A  .3 


• 


THE 


MORMON  PUZZLE; 


AND  HOW   TO  SOLVE  IT. 


REV.  R.  W.  BEERS,  A.M., 

pAJOR  OF  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH,  ELKTON,  MD. 


"A    disposition  to    Deserve,  and  an   ability  to   improve,  taken 
together,  would  be  my  stai^ard  of  a  statesman."— EDMUND  BURKE. 

* 


FUNK   &   WAGJALLS,    PUBLISHERS. 

CHICAGO  :  NEWYORK  :  LONDON  : 

TIMES   BUILDING.  18   &  2O   AST^R   PLACE.  44    FLEET   STREET. 

1887 


/ 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congre' 

By  FUNK  &  WAGN 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congr 


1303? 

Soft  Library 


parents, 


TO  WHOSE    SELF-SACRIFICE  AND  DEVOTION  I  OWE   SO  MUCH, 
THIS   VOLUME   IS   LOVINGLY 


PEEFACE. 

THE  following  pages  have  at  least  the  merit  of  being 
addressed  to  a  subject  of  living  interest  to  the  American 
people.  Perhaps  with  the  single  exception  of  the  labor 
problem,  the  Mormon  problem  is  the  most  important 
question  before  the  people  of  our  country  at  the  present 
time.  It  is  a  problem  which  has  thus  far  been  unsolv- 
able  by  the  moralist,  the  statesman,  and  the  politician. 
It  still  remains  a  PUZZLE.  No  feasible  plan  has  yet  been 
hit  upon  for  getting  rid  of  it. 

From  the  past  failures  to  solve  it,  it  would  seem  that 
the  problem  has  either  not  been  studied  from  the  proper 
standpoint,  or  has  been  misunderstood.  Accordingly, 
we  instituted  a  careful  study  of  the  problem  in  all  its 
different  phases,  and  endeavored  to  conduct  our  investi- 
gation in  a  fair  and  impartial  manner.  In  doing  so  we 
consulted  the  leading  authorities,  both  Mormon  and  non- 
Mormon,  and  must  here  acknowledge  our  indebtedness 
especially  to  "  New  Light  on  Mormonism,"  by  Mrs. 
Ellen  E.  Dickinson;  "  Illiteracy  and  Mormonism,"  by 
Henry  Randall  Waite  ;  Professor  Coyner's  "  Handbook 
on  Mormonism;"  Schaff-Herzog' s  "Encyclopaedia  of 
Religious  Knowledge  ;"  and  back  files  of  the  Indepen- 
dent,  Christian  Union,  and  Deseret  News — all  of  which 
were  freely  used  in  the  preparation  of  this  volume. 

It  has  the  merit  of  being  the  product  of  about  two 
years'  careful  thought  and  research.  Most  of  the  writ- 
ings on  Mormonism  at  the  present  day  are  the  result  of 
a  few  days'  study  of  the  subject  on  the  field  of  Utah  ; 


VI  PREFACE. 

but,  apart  from  the  insufficient  time  which  such  authors 
devote  to  the  study  of  so  knotty  a  problem,  their  minds 
are  very  apt  to  be  warped  by  the  people  among  whom 
their  lot  is  cast  during  their  short  visit  there,  and  they 
almost  inevitably  present  a  one-sided  view  of  the  ques- 
tion. 

Tims,  some  have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  Mor- 
mons;  and  they  have  returned  from  Utah  delighted, 
and  let  fall  from  their  lips  naught  but  encomiums  for  the 
priesthood  and  apologies  for  the  Mormon  system.  Many 
of  our  legislators  have  in  this  way  been  the  dupes  of  the 
Mormon  priesthood.  On  this  subject  the  much-lamented 
Mary  Clemmer  wrote  the  following  pungent  lines  : 

"  Legislators  constantly  passing  to  and  from  Cali- 
fornia find  Salt  Lake  City  a  most  attractive  stopping- 
place.  The  Mormon  hierarchy,  sly,  cunning,  astute,  to 
the  last  limit  of  human  nature,  is  ever  sharply  on  the 
lookout  for  these  potent  summer  visitors.  '  Prophets ' 
and  i  apostles  '  board  every  train  of  cars  that  enters  Utah 
bearing  an  important  traveller.  The  freedom  of  the 
city,  the  hospitality  of  the  show  c  happy  families,'  who 
are  never  taken  by  surprise  on  an  off-day  of  misery,  is 
lavished  upon  the  ingenuous  guest.  .  .  .  The  facts 
impressed  upon  his  senses,  as  well  as  his  understanding, 
are  those  of  great  industry,  thrift,  wealth,  prosperity — 
of  shrewd  men  and  of  seemingly  happy  women.  In- 
deed, their  supreme  occupation  while  with  him  is  to 
prove  to  him  that  they  are  happy,  while  the  men  are 
equally  busy  in  spreading  before  him  the  vast  resources 
of  both  the  Church  and  the  Territory.  This  man,  who 
is  one  of  many  men  whose  voice  and  vote  tells  upon 
human  affairs,  leaves  the  Territory  at  last  deeply  in  debt 
personally  for  favors  received  and  mentally  somewhat 
dazed  by  the  material  profitableness  of  a  religious  system 


PREFACE.  Vll 

that  he  wishes  to  denounce,  but  does  not  pretend  to  un- 
derstand." 

On  the  other  hand,  many  have  fallen  into  the  hands 
of  litter  non- Mormons  during  their  brief  stay  in  Utah  ; 
and  their  minds  have  been  filled  with  horrible  stories  of 
the  brutalities  arid  crimes  of  the  Mormon  people.  They 
have  returned  disgusted,  and  have  uttered  harsh  tirades 
against  the  whole  Mormon  system  and  all  who  believe  in 
it,  declaring  that  it  should  be  utterly  exterminated,  even 
by  the  sword.  Of  their  utterances  and  writings  the 
official  organ  of  the  Mormon  Church,  the  Deseret  News, 
in  its  issue  of  July  21st,  1886,  reasonably  complains.  It 
says  :  "  Salt  Lake  City  is  not  Utah,  and  conversation 
with  a  little  knot  of  anti-Mormons  does  not  impart  much 
accurate  information  on  '  Mormonism.'  The  books  that 
are  written  by  tourists  who  come  in  by  the  cars,  take  a 
hack,  a  ride  around  town,  a  sniff  at  the  lake,  a  glance  at 
the  Temple,  and  a  guess  at  the  situation,  and  who  make 
up  their  data  from  other  publications  and  the  yarns  of 
persons  who  take  delight  in  filling  up  travellers  with 
blood-curdling  Munchausenisms,  are  not  likely  to  correct 
the  public  mind  on  a  subject  about  which  there  is  more 
misinformation  than  almost  any  other.  .  .  .  And 
these  books  are  not  any  less  reliable  than  the  remarks 
and  tales  and  remedies  that  fall  from  the  lips  of  men 
who  spend  a  few  weeks  in  a  given  locality  in  one  Utah 
town,  and  then  go  to  the  world  and  air  their  great  ex- 
perience and  knowledge  about  the  '  Mormons  '  through 
'  a  protracted  residence  in  Utah.'  : 

It  was  our  desire  to  avoid  both  Scylla  and  Charybdis 
— to  treat  the  subject  with  an  unbiased  mind — to  get  the 
real  facts,  and  then  propound,  if  possible,  a  solution  to 
the  problem.  We  have  not  been  in  actual  contact  either 
with  Mormons  or  non-Mormons.  We  have  not  been  on 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

the  field  of  Utah  at  all,  and  believe  that  the  value  of  this 
volume  as  an  impartial  study  is  thereby  greatly  enhanced. 
Furthermore,  while  we  have  avoided  the  narrow  views 
of  the  subject  which  would  almost  inevitably  have  re- 
sulted from  a  personal  visit  to  Utah,  we  have  been  in 
communication  both  with  leading  Mormons  and  non- 
M.ormons  on  the  field,  and  have  in  that  way  acquired  all 
the  reliable  information  which  could  have  been  obtained 
by  a  long  residence  there. 

The  result  of  our  long  and  careful  study,  which  was 
prosecuted  while  we  were  engaged  in  regular  pastoral 
duties,  was  first  given  to  the  members  of  our  own  con- 
gregation in  a  series  of  lectures  on  week-day  evenings  ; 
and  while  they  have  since  then  been  enlarged  and  care- 
fully revised,  they  still  have  the  free  oratorical  style 
which,  though  inexcusable  in  a  work  prepared  exclusively 
for  publication,  may  be  pardoned  in  an  oral  lecture. 

The  solution  of  the  u  Mormon  Puzzle  "  to  which  we 
have  arrived  is  given  forth  with  the  firm  conviction  that 
it  is  practicable,  and  if  carried  out  in  its  various  parts 
would  peaceably  overcome  all  the  bad  qualities  belonging 
to  Mormonism,  which  are  the  sole  cause  of  the  puzzle 
now  before  the  people  of  our  country.  Nevertheless, 
we  do  not  anticipate  for  our  views  the  indorsement  of 
the  extremists  on  either  side  ;  but  we  believe  they  will 
commend  themselves  to  the  fair-minded  people  of  our 
land  ;  at  least,  it  is  hoped  that  all  minds  open  to  convic- 
tion may  find  something  in  these  pages  worthy  of  their 
serious  thought.  We  only  ask  that  the  reader  may  adopt 
the  precept  of  Bacon  :  "  Kead  not  to  contradict  and 
confute  ;  nor  to  believe  and  take  for  granted  ;  but  to 
weigh  and  consider." 

THE  AUTHOR. 

PRESBYTERIAN  PARSONAGE,  ELKTON,  MD. 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTORY  REMARKS. 


PAKT  I. 
HISTORY  OF  MORMONISM. 

CHAPTER  I.      .  PAGE 

Alleged  Origin  of  Mormonism — Joseph  Smith's  Early  Life — 
Finding  the  Peek-stone — Visited  by  an  Angel — Received  the 
Golden  Plates — Was  Smith  a  Swindler  or  an  Enthusiast? — 
•'  Book  of  Mormon"  Published,  and  Mormon  Church  Estab- 
lished— Smith's  First  Alleged  Miracle — Rigdon  Joins  the  Mor- 
mons— Mormonism  Compared  to  Mohammedanism 26 

CHAPTER  II. 

HISTORY  OP  MORMONISM  (continued). 

The  First  Hegira  from  Palmyra  to  Kirtland— The  First  Tem- 
ple—Rapid Growth  of  the  Mormon  Church— Brigham  Young 
and  other  Missionaries  Sent  to  Foreign  Lands — The  Name 
"  Latter-day  Saints"  Adopted — Smith  and  Rigdon  Compelled 
to  Flee  from  Kirtland — The  Second  Hegira— The  "Danites" 
Organized — Rapid  Increase  of  the  Mormons  in  Missouri — 
Jealousy  of  the  Missourians — Mormons  Driven  across  the  Mis- 
souri River  by  a  Mob — Their  Property  Confiscated — Their 
Leaders  Imprisoned 38 

CHAPTER  III. 

HISTORY  OF  MORMONISM  (continued). 

The  Third  Hegira— Sufferings  of  the  Mormons  during  their 
Journey  into  Illinois— An  Account  of  the  Murder  of  Mormons 


X  TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

— Influence  of  this  Persecution  on  the  Minds  of  Mormons  at 
the  Present  Time — Nauvoo— Its  Location — Its  Growth — The 
Second  Mormon  Temple  Begun — Other  Public  Buildings — 
Laziness  Whittled  out  of  Nauvoo — Internal  Dissensions  Among 
the  Mormons — Political  Troubles — Smith  Nominated  for  Pres- 
ident of  the  United  States — Warrants  Issued  against  the 
Mormon  Leaders — Constable  Driven  out  of  Nauvoo— Civil  War 
Threatened — Smith  Asked  to  Submit  to  Trial — Murder  of 
Joseph  Smith  and  his  Brother — Rigdon  Excommunicated,  and 
Brigham  Young  Made  Leader — Consecration  of  the  "  Pride  of 
the  Valley" 45 

CHAPTER  IV. 

HISTORY  OF  MORMONISM  (concluded). 

The  Fourth  Hegira — Young's  Shrewd  Plan  of  a  Western  King- 
dom— Nauvoo's  Sad  End — Journey  of  the  Mormons  to  Council 
Bluffd — Young's  Forethought — The  Trip  of  the  Pioneers  Across 
the  Wilderness— The  Halt  at  Salt  Lake  Valley— Young  Leads 
the  Remaining  Mormons  from  Council  Bluffs  to  Salt  Lake — 
Their  Entertainment  during  their  March — Folly  of  the  Illi- 
noisans  in  Driving  them  out  into  the  Wilderness— Probable 
Result  of  Tolerance  of  the  Mormons — Character  of  the  Mor- 
mons— Life  Begun  Anew  in  Salt  Lake  Valley— Salt  Lake  City 
Established— Mills  and  Workshops  Established  and  the  Great 
Temple  Begun — Increase  of  the  Mormon  Population — Value  of 
their  Property  in  Utah — Public  Schools — A  Final  Brief  Glance 
at  their  History — How  the  Mormon  Puzzle  will  not  be  Solved. .  54 


PART  II. 
THE   POLITICAL  PUZZLE. 

CHAPTER    V. 

Mormonism  a  Theocracy — Manoeuvring  for  Office  the  Cause  of 
the  Expulsion  of  the  Mormons  from  Missouri  and  Nauvoo — 
The  "  State  of  Deseret"  Formed — Lands  Illegally  Obtained — 
Brigham's  Movable  House— Government  Officials  Compelled  to 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS.  XI 

PACK 

Flee— Federal  Troops  Sent— The  Oath  of  Disloyalty— The  En- 
dowment Rites— The  American  Flag  at  Half-mast— The  Con- 
trol  of  the  Nation  their  Aim— The  Political  Puzzle  Stated— Its 
Causes— Necessity  of  Government  Action 67 

CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  POLITICAL  PUZZLE  (continued). 

The  Possible  Remedies— The  Military  Remedy— The  Government 
Responsible  for  the  Situation  in  Utah — The  Disfranchisement 
of  Polygamists— Federal  Trustees  for  the  Mormon  Church 
Corporation — Confiscation  of  Unlawful  Funds — False  State- 
ments About  Mormons — Letters  from  the  Two  Bancrofts — The 
Dissolution  of  the  Emigrating  Fund  Company — The  Federal 
Commission  Remedy — The  Woodburn  Bill,  or  Idaho  Statute. .  77 

CHAPTER  VII. 

THE   POLITICAL   PUZZLE   (concluded). 

Objections  to  Proposed  Remedies—  Gladstone  on  "Coercion" — 
A  NEW  PLAN  ADVOCATED—  The  Abolition  of  Female  Suffrage 
—A  National  Colonization  Scheme — Natural  Resources  of  Utah 
— Superiority  of  the  Colonization  Plan  over  Others—  The  Estab- 
lishment of  National  Fi*ee  ScJiools — Ignorance  the  Keystone  of 
Mormon  Despotism — Public  Schools  in  Utah  used  for  Mormon 
Purposes — Proposed  Federal  Superintendent  of  Schools  in  Utah 
— Territorial  Schools  Too  Few— Necessity  of  Government  Ac- 
tion—Prejudice Disarmed  by  this  Plan— THE  POLITICAL  PUZ- 
ZLE SOLVED.  . .  91 


PAKT  III. 

THE  SOCIAL  PUZZLE. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Polygamy  only  one  of  the  Mormon  Social  Evils— Their  Social 
System  a  System  of  Bondage — Contrary  to  Natural  Law — Con- 
trary to  the  Spirit  of  the  Age — PERSONAL  BONDAGE  of  the 
Mormons— Missionaries  Must  Go  on  Duty— Dictation  of  the 


Xll  TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Priesthood  with  Regard  to  Boarders  and  Rents — Immigrants 
Under  their  Control— All  Members  Subject  to  Church  Orders 
— Power  of  the  Church  over  Daily  Business — Mormon  Mining 
Contractors— MENTAL  BONDAGE  of  the  Mormons — Converts 
Illiterate — The  Mormon  Church  the  Opponent  of  Free  Educa- 
tion— No  Independent  Thought — Excommunication  of  Henry 
Lawrence  and  Others 107 

CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  SOCIAL  PUZZLE  (continued). 

MORAL  BONDAGE  of  the  Mormons— Implicit  Obedience  to  the 
Priesthood  Enjoined—  Crimes  Committed  at  their  Command — 
Murders — The  Mountain  Meadows  Massacre — Lee's  Confession 
— A  Mormon  Carpenter's  Confession — Theft — Falsehood — Per- 
jury— Why  was  Polygamy  Promulgated? — Why  is  Polygamy 
Practised  ?. .  .118 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  SOCIAL  PUZZLE  (continued). 

Reasons  why  Mormon  Slavery  is  Maintained — Hope  of  Earthly 
Gain — Complete  Organization  of  the  Mormon  Church — Pros- 
pect of  Promotion  in  Office  as  a  Bribe— Fear  of  Earthly  Loss — 
System  of  Espionage — Apostasy  Formerly  Punished  by  Death 
— Mode  of  Inflicting  the  Punishment — Social  Ostracism — Re- 
ligious Conviction  the  Mainstay  of  the  Mormon  Social  System.  131 

CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  SOCIAL  PUZZLE  (concluded). 

THE  SOLUTION  OF  THE  SOCIAL  PUZZLE — Mormon  Slavery  and 
Negro  Slavery  Compared — The  Duty  of  the  Government  to 
Break  up  Mormon  Slavery — The  Remedy  the  Same  as  for  tbe 
Political  Evils  of  Mormonism— Brigliam  Young  Opposed  to 
Immigration  of  Gentiles— A  Growing  Spirit  of  Restlessness — 
Necessity  of  Surrounding  the  Youth  with  an  Atmosphere  of 
Freedom — Personal  Bondage  of  the  Mormons  Overcome  by 
Gentile  Colonization — Social  Ostracism  no  Longer  Dreaded — 
Mental  Bondage  Overcome  by  National  Schools  and  Coloniza- 
tion— Moral  Bondage  Overcome  by  the  Same  Means— This 
Policy  not  to  be  Confounded  with  the  Let-Alone  Policy— An 


TABLE  OF   CONTENTS.  XI 11 

PACK 

Apparent  Policy  of  Toleration— The  Alarmist's  Cry  and  its 
Answer — The  Mormon  Standpoint  not  to  be  Overlooked — The 
Cry  of  Unconstitutionally — The  Proposed  Polygamy  Amend- 
ment to  the  Constitution — The  Cry  of  Religious  Persecution — 
Imprisonment  Preferred  to  Sacrifice  of  Principle — Law  Impotent 
to  Break  up  Polygamy — Supposed  Captivity  of  Mormon  Women 
a  Mistake — Mass-Meeting  of  Mormon  Women  to  Plead  for 
Polygamy — Senator  Hoar  on  the  Solution  of  the  Social  Puzzle 
— How  the  Law  Should  be  Enforced  and  its  Probable  Effect- 
Superiority  of  the  Colonization  Plan  over  any  Other  Plan — Its 
Effectiveness  Proved  by  the  Oneida  Community — The  Social 
Puzzle  Solved— The  Duty  of  the  Nation,  the  Citizen,  and  the 
Church..  .  138 


PART  IV. 

THE  RELIGIOUS  PUZZLE. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

The  Religious  Aspects  of  Mormonism  Paramount — General  Igno- 
rance Concerning  the  Mormon  Religious  System  —  SOURCES 
OF  THEIR  DOCTRINES — Revelation,  not  Reason,  the  Primary 
Source — All  Religions  Founded  on  Revelation— Sacred  Books 
— The  Mormon  Bible — The  "Book  of  Mormon" — Migrations 
of  Jews  to  America — Visit  of  Jesus  to  America  — "  Book  of  Doc- 
trine and  Covenants" — The  "  Living  Oracles" 161 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  RELIGIOUS  PUZZLE  (continued). 

MORMON  DOCTRINES— Their  Idea  of  God — Plurality  of  Gods — 
Mormon  Sunday-School  Hymn  Concerning  Smith — The  Pre- 
existence  of  Souls — The  Dootrine  of  Polygamy — Practised  on 
the  Plea  of  Self-Sacrifice  and  Ambition — Necessity  of  Preaching 
their  Gospel  to  All— Preaching  to  the  Dead— Baptismal  Regen- 
eration— Baptism  for  the  Dead— Mormon  Priesthood  Necessary 
to  Salvation — Melchizedek  and  Aaronic  Priesthood — Mormon 
Endowments — Blood  Atonement — Doctrine  of  "  The  Fulness 
of  Times"..  .  168 


XIV  TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

CHAPTER   XIV. 

THE  RELIGIOUS  PUZZLE  (continued). 

Professor  Coyner's  Analysis  of  Mormonism—  Rev.  Dr.  McNiece's 
Analysis — Reasons  for  the  Growth  and  Tenacity  of  Mormonism 
—The  Christian  Element  its  Chief  Source  of  Strength— No 
Mormon  Converts  from  Heathenism — Protestantism  the  Source 
of  its  Recruits — Bible  Doctrines  in  the  Mormon  '  Catechism 
for  Children" — The  Mormon  Articles  of  Faith — The  Mormon 
Heresy  Compared  to  Gnosticism  in  the  Early  Christian  Church 
—A  Clue  to  the  Solution  of  the  Religious  Puzzle. 181 

CHAPTER    XV. 

THE  RELIGIOUS    PUZZLE  (concluded). 

The  Character  of  Efforts  Hitherto  put  Forth  to  Solve  the  Puzzle 
— What  has  been  Accomplished — The  Plan  Somewhere  Defec- 
tive— Mormonism  to  be  Reformed,  not  Destroyed — Why  Mor- 
mons will  not  Listen  to  Christian  Missionaries — Moody  and 
Sankey's  Meetings  in  Salt  Lake  City — The  Deseret  Evening 
News  on  Bishop  Tuttle's  Sermon — Mormonism  a  Perversion  of 
Christianity — The  Educational  and  Colonization  Scheme  best 
Fitted  to  Reform  it — Proved  by  Comparing:  Roman  Catholicism 
in  the  United  States  with  Roman  Catholicism  in  Mexico  or 
Brazil— The  Probable  Effect  of  a  Larger  Intelligence— The 
Probable  Effect  of  the  Introduction  of  Gentile  Colonies— The 
Religious  Puzzle  Solved— The  Duty  of  the  Hour 188 


INTRODUCTORY  REMARKS. 


"  SEARCH  for  the  truth  is  the  noblest  occupation  of  man." — MADAME 
DE  STAEL. 

'•NEVER  suppose  yourself  to  understand  the  ignorance  of  another 
BO  long  as  you  are  ignorant  of  his  understanding." — COLERIDGE. 


INTRODUCTORY    REMARKS. 

HE  was  a  sage  and  a  seer  who  remarked  concerning 
Mormonism  :  "  It  presents  a  problem  which  the  wisest 
politician  has  failed  to  solve,  and  whose  outcome  lies  in 
the  mystery  of  the  future."  It  is  acknowledged  to  be 
the  Great  Modern  Abomination,  the  most  pernicious 
heresy  of  this  century  ;  and  yet  in  ten  years  from  its 
origin  its  devotees  numbered  thousands,  and  Joseph 
Smith,  its  founder,  predicted  that  it  was  to  be  the  re- 
ligious faith  of  the  Western  Continent.  To-day  its 
membership  numbers  its  hundreds  of  thousands,  its 
organizations  extend  over  a  large  part  of  the  globe,  and 
the  most  careless  observer  of  the  times  must  realize  that 
this  institution  has  become  one  of  the  gravest  and  most 
difficult  religious,  social,  and  political  puzzles  of  the  day. 

Throughout  our  whole  land  it  is  universally  despised 
and  execrated  ;  and  if  popular  odium  could  extinguish 
it,  it  would  speedily  be  sunk  in  the  slimy  depths  of  the 
Great  Salt  Lake.  But  thus  far  it  has  successfully  with- 
stood even  the  fiercest  opposition.  That  Mormonism  is 
not  the  weak,  empty,  insignificant  thing  which  it  is  so 
generally  assumed  to  be  must  be  obvious  to  any  one  who 
sets  himself  seriously  to  account  for  its  origin,  its  growth, 
and  its  present  position  and  influence.  There  must  be 
more  in  the  system  than  is  popularly  supposed  ;  other- 
wise the  organization  could  never  have  grown  to  be 
what  it  is,  nor  could  it  now  stand  up  so  persistently  and 
even  prosperously  in  the  presence  of  such  universal  op- 
position. 


18  INTRODUCTORY    REMARKS. 

Very  much  of  what  is  said  and  written  concerning 
Mormonism  amounts  to  but  very  little  because  of  its 
obvious  failure  to  understand  what  it  denounces  ;  and 
it  will  be  well  for  us  at  the  outset  to  notice  A  FEW  OF  THE 
MISTAKES  CONCERNING  MORMONISM  that  are  now  current. 

1.  Most  people  talk  as  if  Mormonism  and  polygamy 
are  synonymous,  whereas  polygamy  is  only  a  compara- 
tively trifling  and  non-essential  part  of  Mormonism.    For 
ten  years  after  the  Church  was  founded,  it  was  not  heard 
of  ;  and  it  was  not  openly  taught  for  twenty  years.     If 
it  could  be  brought  to  a  sudden  conclusion  either  by  a 
new   revelation,  or  stamped   out   by  law,  Mormonism, 
with   its  preposterous  claims,  its    absorption    of  things 
political  in  things  ecclesiastical,  its  ideas,  some  of  them 
more   than   heathenish,  its    intensely  secular   spirit,  its 
standard  of  morality  lamentably  low — MORMONISM,  in  its 
worst  phases,  and  in  what  it  is  most  damaging  to  souls 
and  fullest  of  peril  to  the  Republic,  would  still  stand 
unscathed. 

2.  And  then,  in  strict  accordance  with  that  false  notion, 
is  the  idea  that  the  Mormons  are  a  mere  horde  of  sen- 
sualized barbarians,  and  should  consequently  be  dealt 
with  in  the  most  severe  manner  imaginable  ;  whereas, 
the  fact  is  that  the  great  mass  of  Mormons  do  not  practise 
polygamy,  and  never  have  done  so.     It  is  true  that,  as  a 
people,  they  are  chargeable  with  the  gravest   crimes  ; 
and  yet  they  have  been  perpetrated  by  the  few,  while  the 
many  have  been,  and  are,  devoted  to  what  they  believe 
to  be  the  true  and  the  right.     Contrasts  are  often  drawn 
(and  truthfully  drawn,  too)  by  their  preachers  between 
' '  the  unworldly  lives  of  the  Saints  and  the  evil  practices 
of  the  Gentiles,"  and  pertinent  examples  are  given  of 
aberration   from   rectitude  of   men  intrusted   with  the 
making  of  our  laws  or  those  who  minister  at  the  altars  of 


INTRODUCTORY    REMARKS.  19 

divine  worship,  until  they  regard  themselves  as  clothed 
with  the  resplendent  robes  of  righteousness.  Perhaps 
the  worst  thing  that  can  be  said  of  the  mass  of  the  Mor- 
mons is  that  they  are  poor,  ignorant,  and  superstitious, 
and  therefore  an  easy  prey  to  a  corrupt  and  infamous 
priesthood.  But  many  who  are  equally  poor,  ignorant, 
and  superstitious  can  be  found  in  every  State  in  the 
Union,  and  in  some  States  they  are  far  greater  in  num- 
ber than  in  Utah. 

3.  Then,  too,  there  is  another  mistaken  idea  concern- 
ing Mormonism.  The  assertion  is  often  made  that  it  is 
an  exotic — an  importation  from  the  Old  World,  and 
especially  that  the  pollutions  of  polygamy  may  justly  be 
charged  to  the  English,  Swedes,  and  Danes.  But  this  is 
not  true.  Facts  compel  a  conclusion  far  less  flattering. 
Smith  and  his  system  are  essentially  a  New  World  prod- 
uct. It  took  its  rise  in  a  region  lying  between  the 
birthplace  of  the  Rochester  Rappings,  from  which 
Modern  Spiritualism  sprang,  and  the  seat  of  the  Oneida 
Community.  It  had  much  in  common,  too,  with  the 
great  Campbellite  movement,  which  antedated  it  only 
by  five  or  ten  years,  and  from  which  it  received  a  large 
number  of  important  accessions.  Millerism  and  Shaker- 
ism  were  also  near  relatives  and  neighbors.  Yea,  more 
— in  Mormonism  we  have  an  obnoxious  plant  which 
sprang  from  Puritan  seed,  though  it  first  took  root  in 
the  Empire  State.  Joseph  Smith,  its  founder,  and 
Brigham  Young,  its  greatest  leader,  were  both  born  in 
Vermont.  At  least  ninety  per  cent  of  the  converts 
gathered  during  the  first  ten  years  (1830-40)  were  of 
New  England  descent.  In  1860,  out  of  a  population  in 
Utah  of  some  70,000,  it  is  affirmed  that  10,000  were 
born  in  New  York  and  20,000  in  New  England  ;  while 
in  the  legislature,  of  thirty-six  members,  thirteen  were 


20  INTRODUCTORY    REMARKS. 

born  in  New.  York,  six  in  Massachusetts,  and  five  in 
Yennont.  And  in  an  editorial  written  less  than  two 
years  ago,  the  official  Mormon  Church  paper  states  that 
"  of  twenty-eight  men  constituting  the  general  authori- 
ties of  the  Church,  twenty-four  were  born  in  the  United 
States  and  eighteen  were  of  New  England  birth  or 
origin.  Of  twenty-seven  '  Stakes  of  Zion,'  twenty  have 
presidents  born  under  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  and  a  large 
majority  are  of  New  England  parentage.  The  founders 
were  mostly  descendants  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  ;  the 
leading  minds  are  nearly  all  of  Puritan  blood."  It  is, 
however,  some  comfort  to  know  that,  since  polygamy 
was  accepted  and  proclaimed,  recruiting  from  among 
the  sons  of  the  Pilgrims  has  almost  altogether  ceased  ; 
and  yet  it  is  well  for  those  of  us  who  are  so  boastful  of 
what  Puritan  thought  and  energy  have  accomplished  for 
America  to  remember  that  this  greatest  abomination  of 
our  land  is  also  a  product  of  the  thought  and  energy  of 
the  descendants  of  the  Pilgrims — an  institution,  there- 
fore, ESSENTIALLY  AMEEICAN. 

4.  It  is  also  commonly  supposed  at  the  present  day 
that  about  nine  tenths  of  the  Mormons  are  foreign  rather 
than  American;  but  the  last  census  gives  Utah  a 
foreign-born  population  of  43,933  and  a  native-born 
population  of  99,974.  Making  allowance  for  the  prob- 
able preponderance  of  the  native  element  among  the 
Gentile  population,  and  allowing  a  large  subtraction 
from  the  latter  figure  on  account  of  the  thousands  of 
children  born  of-  foreign  parentage  in  Utah,  it  would 
still  be  probable  that  the  native  is,  at  least,  equal  to  the 
foreign  fraction  in  the  general  aggregate.  And  this  will 
be  the  more  readily  admitted  when  it  is  remembered 
that,  while  public  attention  has  been  more  attracted 
toward  the  recent  importations  of  converts  from  Europe, 


INTRODUCTORY    REMARKS.  21 

the  earlier  Mormons  in  Utah  were  almost  exclusively 
American.  So  far  as  personal  prominence  goes,  if  not 
in  numbers,  the  native  element  has  always  been,  and  is 
now,  entirely  predominant. 

Since,  then,  there  are  so  many  common  mistakes  with 
reference  to  Mormonism,  let  us  endeavor  to  look  at  the 
system  fully  in  a  fair  and  impartial  manner,  considering 
its  marvellous  history,  in  the  first  p^ace  ;  and,  then,  its 
threefold  character  as  a  religious,  social,  and  political  sys- 
tem, with  which  we  have  to  deal  not  only  as  patriots,  but 
also  as  Christians. 


PART  I. 
HISTORY  OF    MORMONISM. 


IBRARY. 


"  EXAMINE  history,  for  it  is  « Philosophy  teaching  by  experience.' 
— CAELYLE. 

"'Tis  strange,  but  true  ;  for  truth  is  always  strange, 
Stranger  than  fiction."  BYRON. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Alleged  origin  of  Mormonism — Joseph  Smith's  early  life — Finding 
the  peek- stone —Visited  by  an  angel— Eeceived  the  golden  plates  — 
Was  Smith  a  swindler  or  an  enthusiast  ? — "  Book  of  Mormon" 
published,  and  Mormon  Church  established — Smith's  first  alleged 
miracle  — Rigdon  joins  the  Mormons — Mormonism  compared  to 
Mohammedanism. 

IT  is  acknowledged  by  all  who  have  given  careful 
thought  to  the  subject,  that  Mormonism  presents  us  with 
a  very  extraordinary  civilization  and  the  most  peculiar 
religion  under  the  sun  ;  but  its  history  is  as  unique  and 
peculiar  as  the  system  itself,  and  is  well  worthy  the  at- 
tention of  the  philosopher  as  well  as  the  student  of 
human  nature  and  human  history. 

Its  alleged  origin  was  miraculous,  and  calculated  to  in- 
spire its  followers  with  wonder,  admiration,  and  awe. 
As  Moses,  the  founder  of  Judaism,  received  the  two 
tables  of  the  moral  law,  which  constituted  the  brief  Bible 
^^  of  the  Israelites,  from  the  hand  of  God  Himself,  while  the 
lightning  blazed  around  his  head  and  the  earth  quaked 
beneath  his  feet,  so  Joseph  Smith  (itjsalleged)  received 
his  Golden  Bible  from  the  hand  of  ari""angel  on  the 
Hill  Cummorah  near  Palmyra,  N.  Y.,  amid  thunder  and 
lightning.  He  is  represented  in  an  old  picture  as  kneel- 
ing on  the  steep  incline  of  that  hill,  the  wind  blowing  his 
long  hair  out  in  all  directions,  and  his  eyes  big  with  sur- 
prise. Above  him  in  a  cloud  is  the  placid  angel,  gazing 
intently  upon  the  future  prophet,  who  is  eagerly  taking 
his  credentials  from  a  cemented  stone  chest  which  had 


26  THE   MORMON    PUZZLE. 

been  buried  some  1400  years,  while  out  of  the  over- 
shadowing cloud  have  come  forth  zigzags  of  lightning 
which  are  playing  around  both  Joseph  and  the  angel. 

The  name  of  the  angel  was  Moroni,  and  he  informed 
Smith  that  the  fate  of  the  early  inhabitants  of  America 
was  written  on  golden  tablets  within  that  chest,  and  that 
these  could  be  read  only  by  the  aid  of  some  wonderful 
stone  spectacles  called  "  Urim  and  Thummim,"  which 
were  also  in  the  chest.  Smith  said  that  on  opening  the 
precious  box  he  found  six  golden  tablets  eighteen  inches 
square  held  together  by  rings  at  the  back,  and  also  the 
stone  spectacles  to  decipher  the  tablets  ;  and  besides 
these,  the  sword  of  Laban  and  a  "breastplate"  which 
had  been  brought  from  Jerusalem  by  the  early  inhab- 
itants of  our  land  were  inclosed  in  the  chest. 

The  hill  on  which  these  sacred  things  were  found  is  at 
present  known  as  Gold  Bible  Hill,  and  the  true  Mor- 
mon venerates  it  as  a  sacred  spot,  and  travels  from  afar  to 
see  its  quiet  but  not  remarkable  beauty.  It  is  a  conical 
elevation  several  hundred  feet  in  height,  and  in  its  isola- 
tion and  peculiar  form  bears  a  certain  resemblance  to  an 
extinct  volcano.  It  is  smooth  and  green  to  the  very  top, 
from  which  there  is  a  picturesque  view  of  hills  and  dales 
in  all  directions.  It  is  situated  in  Wayne  County,  N.  Y., 
four  miles  from  the  village  of  Palmyra  and  three  miles 
from  the  home  of  the  false  prophet  who  has  given  it  its 
present  fame. 

Like  all  other  prophets,  whether  true  or  false,  Joseph 
Smith  was  of  very  humble  origin.  His  father  was  a 
cooper  by  trade,  and  he  dug  wells  and  worked  on  the 
neighboring  farms  when  he  could.  His  mother  washed 
by  the  day,  but  it  is  said  that  her  employers  were  care- 
ful to  have  the  clothes  in  before  dark,  as  experience  had 
taught  them  they  would  disappear  if  left  on  the  lines 


HISTORY   OF   MORMONISM.  27 

over  night.     The  whole  family  made  baskets  and  maple 
sugar,  and  raised  and  sold  garden  vegetables. 

The  youthful  Joseph  assisted  generally,  and  (it  is  al- 
leged) was  an  adept  in  robbing  hen-roosts  and  orchards. 
It  seems  that  when  quite  young  he  could  read,  but  not 
write.  His  two  standard  volumes  were  "  The  Life  of 
Stephen  Burroughs,"  the  clerical  scoundrel,  and  the 
autobiography  of  Captain  Kidd,  the  pirate.  The  latter 
work  was  eagerly  and  often  perused.  At  an  early  age 
he  committed  the  following  lines  to  memory,  which 
seemed  to  give  him  great  pleasure  : 

"  My  name  was  Robert  Kidd, 

As  I  sailed,  as  I  sailed  ; 
And  most  wickedly  I  did, 
And  God's  laws  I  did  forbid, 

As  I  sailed,  as  I  sailed." 

A  certain  superstitious  feeling  concerning  the  Smith 
family  existed  in  the  minds  of  their  more  ignorant  neigh- 
bors on  account  of  "the  reputation  which  Mrs.  Smith  had 
for  telling  fortunes.  She  seems  to  have  been  a  woman 
full  of  odd  conceits  and  superstitions,  while  at  the  same 
time  she  possessed  a  great  deal  of  natural  talent ;  and 
Joseph  resembled  his  mother  in  mental  quickness  and 
imaginative  power. 

When  he  was  scarcely  fifteen  years  old,  while  he  was 
watching  the  digging  of  a  well,  he  said  that  he  found  a 
peculiarly  shaped  stone  that  resembled  a  child's  foot  in 
its  outlines.  It  must  have  resembled  the  stone  foot  of 
Buddha  at  Bangkok,  Siam.  At  any  rate,  it  has  well  been 
said  that  this  foot  "has  left  footprints  on  the  sands  of 
time."  This  little  stone,  afterward  known  as  the 
"  peek-stone"  and  the  "  Palmyra  seer-stone,"  has  been 
called  "  the  acorn  of  the  Mormon  oak." 

For  some  time  Joseph  Smith  obtained  a  subsistence 


28  THE    MORMON    PUZZLE. 

by  means  of  that  stone.  In  a  kneeling  posture,  with  a 
bandage  over  his  eyes  (so  luminous  was  the  sight  without 
it),  with  the  stone  in  a  large,  white  stove-pipe  hat,  and 
this  hat  in  front  of  his  face,  he  claimed  to  see  very  re- 
markable sights,  such  as  buried  treasures  of  gold  and  sil- 
ver. He  could  trace  stolen  property,  tell  where  herds 
of  cattle,  had  strayed  and  where  water  could  be  found. 
With  the  "  peeker"  he  carried  a  rod  of  witch* hazel, 
which  assisted  him  in  the  discovery  of  water. 

This  state  of  affairs  continued  for  some  time.  Then 
he  disappeared,  and  for  four  years  Mgkfffe  is  involved  in 
much  mystery  ;  bat  during  thafc^ume  he  is  known  to 
have  been  in  both  Onondaga  and  Shenango  counties, 
N.  Y.,  since  his  name  appears  in  the  criminal  records  of 
both  as  a  vagabond.  While  he  was  wandering  through 
the  country  during  those  years  of  mystery,  he  doubtless 
heard  the  theories  (as  they  were  a  common  topic  of  con- 
versation at  the  time)  that  were  afloat  to  account  for  the 
peopling  of  America — the  traditions  collected  from  the 
Indians,  the  Hebrew  traditions  among  them,  the  discov- 
ery of  ruined  cities  and  temples  in  Central  America,  the 
relics  of  pottery,  and  the  bricks  and  stumps  of  axe-cut 
trees  buried  far  beneath  the  surface  of  the  Mississippi. 

During  that  time,  also,  he  became  interested  in  the 
great  revivals  that  prevailed  in  the  churches  of  the  differ- 
ent denominations  in  the  vicinity  of  his  home  at  Pal- 
myra. In  1821  five  of  the  Smith  family  were  awak- 
ened, and  united  with  the  Presbyterian  Church.  Joseph, 
in  his  own  account  of  his  early  life,  saj  3  that  he  l '  became 
somewhat  partial  to  the  Methodist  sect,"  but  he  was  not 
able  to  decide  which  was  right.  In  his  bewilderment 
he  gave  himself  up  to  prayer  for  days,  that  the  truth 
might  be  made  known  to  him  among  all  the  conflicting 
opinions  that  he  heard  among  these  different  sects  ;  and 


HISTORY    OF    MORMONISM.  29 

finally  a  heavenly  messenger  bade  him  not  to  join  any 
sect.  And  three  years  afterward,  on  September  22d, 
1823,  another  celestial  visitant  outlined  to  him  about  the 
golden  plates  he  was  to  find  and  the  prophet  he  was  to 
be.  He  was  told  that  the  North  American  Indians 
were  a  remnant  of  Israel,  the  descendants  of  a  certain 
family  of  Jews  that  emigrated  from  Jerusalem  in  the 
time  of  Zedekiah,  and  were  miraculously  led  across  the 
Eastern  Ocean  ;  and  he  was  also  told  that  before  they 
had  fallen  off  from  the  faith  a  priest  and  prophet  named 
Mormon  had,  by  direction  of  God,  drawn  up  an  abstract 
of  their  national  records  and  religious  opinions,  and 
buried  it,  and  that  he  himself  was  selected  to  recover  and 
publish  it  to  the  world.  He  was  also  told  that  it  con- 
tained many  prophecies  relating  to  these  u  latter  days," 
and  would  give  instructions  as  to  "  the  gathering  of  the 
Saints  "  into  a  temporal  and  spiritual  kingdom,  prepara- 
tory to  the  second  coming  of  the  Messiah,  which  was  at 
hand. 

From  that  time  on  he  declares  that  his  days  and 
nights  were  filled  with  "  visions,"  "  voices,"  and 
"  angels  ;"  and,  following  the  direction  of  an  angel,  on 
the  night  of  September  22d,  1827,  amid  a  grand  display 
of  celestial  pyrotechnics,  he  received  from  the  hand  of 
the  angel  Moroni,  the  son  of  Mormon,  a  chest  that  con- 
tained a  number  of  golden  tablets  with  inscriptions,  and 
with  them  a  pair  of  stone  spectacles  by  means  of  which 
he  was  to  decipher  the  characters.  It  is  asserted  that 
these  plates  were  seen  by  eleven  persons,  but  all  of  them 
except  three  were  members  of  Smith's  family  or  his  near 
neighbors.  The  plates  themselves  disappeared  soon 
after  the  publication  of  the  "  Book  of  Mormon,"  and  it 
is  understood  that  the  angel  took  them  again  into  his 
custody. 


30  THE   MORMON    PUZZLE. 

The  tablets,  Smith  said,  were  covered  with  hiero- 
glyphics, which  he  called  the  "  reformed  Egyptian" 
language.  A  document  was  actually  exhibited  as  a  con- 
firmation of  this  assertion,  and  was  seen  by  Professor  . 
Charles  Anthon,  of  Columbia  College,  New  York  City, 
who  in  a  letter  dated  February  17th,  1834-,  relates  that 
it  was  in  fact  a  singular  scroll,  containing  a  mixture  of 
Greek,  Hebrew,  and  Roman  letters,  with  crosses  and 
flourishes,  and  a  Mexican  calendar  given  by  Humboldt, 
but  altered  so  that  it  could  not  be  well  recognized. 

For  more  than  two  years,  by  the  aid  of  the  stone 
spectacles,  Smith  was  engaged  in  translating  the  hiero- 
glyphics into  English.  In  March,  1830,  the  translation 
was  given  into  the  printer's  hands,  was  published  under 
the  title  of  the  "  Book  of  Mormon,"  and  that  book  is 
the  corner-stone  of  that  great  MODERN  DELUSION  called 
MORMONISM.  A  delusion  the  writer  prefers  to  call  it 
rather  than  "  the  Latter-day  swindle,"  as  Joseph  Cook 
and  many  others  denominate  it. 

There  are  TWO  VIEWS  that  may  be  taken  of  Joseph 
Smith  by  the  Christian  world.  One  is  that  he  was  a 
base  swindler,  and  concocted  the  Mormon  scheme  with 
the  express  purpose  of  deluding  the  people  ;  the  other 
is  that  he  was  a  religious  enthusiast,  deceived  and  de- 
luded himself.  Arguments  may  be  adduced  in  support 
of  either  theory,  and  which  are  the  stronger  is  a  question 
which  every  man  must  settle  for  himself. 

1.  On  the  one  hand,  it  may  be  said  that  Smith's 
former  life  is  in  strict  accord  with  the  theory  that  his 
scheme  was  a  deliberate  fraud  ;  for  he  swindled  many  of 
his  neighbors  with  his  "  peek-stone." 

"Bat,  on  the  other  hand,  it  may  be  said  that  it  is  not 
so  certain  that  he  was  not  himself  deceived  with  regard 
to  that  matter  also.  At  any  rate,  his  naturally  supersti- 


HISTORY    OF   MORMONISM.  31 

tious  and  imaginative  mind,  which  he  inherited  from  his 
mother,  would  strongly  favor  the  idea  that  he  really 
thought  he  saw  visions  and  heard  voices.  Even  Joseph 
Cook  says,  in  an  address  delivered  in  Salt  Lake  City,  May 
17th,  1884  :  "  I  am  not  sure  that  he  did  not  have  in  his 
experience  some  spiritistic  manifestations,  which  he  mis- 
took for  a  revelation  ;  but  I  am  sure  that  if  he  had  any 
superhuman  revelation,  it  came  from  below  the  earth 
rather  than  from  above  it." 

2.  Again,  in  support  of  the  swindling  theory,  it  may 
be  said  that,  apart  from  the   "  peek-stone"  business,  his 
previous  immoral  life  and  ignorance  favors  the  idea  that 
he  was  a  base  villain  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  it  might 
be  said  that  that  is  only  another  form  of  the  old  mis- 
taken  notion  that  "  no   good   thing   can  come  out  of 
Nazareth." 

3.  Then,  too,  it  might  be  said  that  Mormonism  was 
regarded  as  a  swindle  by  the  people  generally  who  lived 
right   around  him   and  were  acquainted  with  him  and 
his  character ;  but,  on   the  other  hand,  it  may  be  said 
that  that  is  no  proof  whatever  that  the  Mormon  scheme 
was  a  fraud,  but  only  another  evidence  of   the  truth 
of  the  well-known  proverb  :   "  A  prophet  is  not  without 
honor  except  in  his  own  country." 

4.  Again,  it  may  be  said  that  Joseph  Smith  was  evi- 
dently a  swindler,  because  most  of  the  "  Book  of  Mor- 
mon" was  copied  from  the  manuscript  of  one  Solomon 
Spaulding,  a  Presbyterian  clergyman  of  Western  Penn- 
sylvania.    Between   1809  and   1813  he  lived  in  North- 
eastern Ohio,  and,  being  fond  of  the  study  of  archaeology, 
he    became  intensely  interested  in   the  ancient  mounds 
and  fortifications  which  abound  in  that  region,  and  he 
himself  opened  up  one  near  his  own  dwelling.     Since 
these  mounds  gave  unmistakable  evidences  of  the  exist- 


32  THE   MORMON   PUZZLE. 

ence  of  an  extinct  race  higher  in  the  scale  of  civilization 
than  the  present  American  Indians,  he  adopted  the 
theory  that  this  Continent  was  peopled  by  a  colony  of 
ancient  Israelites,  and  in  a  time  of  infirm  health  he 
wrote  an  historical  romance  embodying  that  theory. 

The  style  of  the  book  was  a  clumsy  imitation  of  our 
English  Bible,  and  the  book  originally  bore  the  title  of 
"  THE  MANUSCRIPT  FOUND,"  the  idea  at  the  root  of  the 
book  being  that  Mr.  Spaulding  discovered  among  other 
prehistoric  mementoes  in  one  of  the  earth-mounds  near 
his  house  an  ancient  manuscript  which  gave  an  account 
of  the  wanderings  and  sufferings  of  the  Israelites  after 
coining  to  America,  and  he  merely  translated  the  story 
as  contained  in  the  manuscript  that  was  found.  He 
tried  to  have  it  published  and  took  it  to  a  printing-office 
in  Pittsburg,  where  it  remained  for  some  time.  It  is 
said  that  in  his  book  there  was  much  repetition  of 
phrases  common  in  Scripture,  such  as,  "  And  it  came  to 
pass,"  and  also  that  he  used  the  names  Lehi,  Nephi, 
Moroni,  Lamanites,  etc.,  which  names  are  all  found  in 
the  "  Book  of  Mormon." 

It  is  supposed  that  this  manuscript  in  some  way  un- 
known fell  into  the  hands  of  Smith,  and  that  he  and  his 
confederates  introduced  into  it  the  religious  part  of  the 
"  Book  of  Mormon  "  touching  the  establishment  of  an- 
other church. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  it  may  be  said  that  that  has 
ever  been  strenuously  denied  by  the  Mormons,  and  has 
never  yet  been  proved.  The  editor  of  the  Independent 
says,  in  the  issue  of  January  7th,  1886,  that  Mrs. 
Spaulding  herself  was  in  total  ignorance  concerning  the 
fate  of  "  The  Manuscript  Found."  During 'the  year 
1834,  when  the  events  must  have  been  comparatively 
well  fixed  in  her  memory,  "  she  thinks  it  was  once  taken 


HISTORY   OF   MORMONISM.  33 

to  the  printing-office  of  Patterson  &  Lambdin  [in  Pitts- 
burg]  ;  but  whether  it  was  ever  brought  back  to  the 
house  again  she  is  quite  uncertain."  The  fact  is,  that 
from  the  time  it  went  into  the  hands  of  the  printer  its 
history  is  lost.  It  is  tme  that  it  might  have  fallen  into 
the  hands  of  Smith  or  his  confederates,  but  it  is  just  as 
likely  that  it  did  not.  All  that  we  have  learned  of  its 
contents  has  been  obtained  from  the  memory  of  persons 
who  had  read  it  or  heard  it  read  fifty  or  more  years  ago, 
none  of  whom  are  now  living.  The  manuscript  itself 
is  not  known  to  have  been  seen  since  it  was  given  to  the 
printer.  "Whether  it  was  destroyed,  or  is  still  in  exist- 
ence, no  one  knows  positively. 

The  only  manuscript  of  Solomon  Spaulding' s  yet 
found  is  the  one  recently  discovered  in  Honolulu,  Sand- 
wich Islands ;  but  concerning  this,  Kev.  Sereno  E. 
Bishop,  of  Honolulu,  says  :  "  Unlike  the  *  Book  of  Mor- 
mon,' the  Spaulding  manuscript  is  not  sham  Hebraistic, 
but  in  ordinary  English.  It  contains  perhaps  no  quota- 
tions from  the  Bible,  unlike  the  other,  which  transfers 
large  portions  of  Isaiah  and  other  books.  Both  devise  a 
number  of  uncouth  names  for  their  characters  ;  both 
record  a  series  of  desperate  wars  ;  both  narrate  a  voyage 
across  the  Atlantic  in  ancient  times  and  a  settlement  in 
North  America."  Evidently  the  "  Book  of  Mormon" 
was  not  copied  from  that  manuscript,  and  the  Mor- 
mons welcomed  it  as  disproving  the  Spaulding  origin  of 
their  sacred  book,  and  have  had  an  edition  of  it  pub- 
lished. 

5.  Those  who  believe  in  the  swindling  theory  will 
only  say  that  Spaulding  had  more  than  one  manuscript, 
and  the  one  recently  found  is  not  the  one  that  the  ' '  Book 
of  Mormon"  was  taken  from.  Besides,  the  similarity 
of  names  and  the  account  of  the  wars  mentioned  in  this 


34    "  THE   MORMON    PUZZLE. 

manuscript  and  the  "  Book  of  Mormon"  woulcKgo  far  to 
substantiate  the  idea  that  the  "  Book  of  Mormon"  was 
copied  from  some  manuscript  of  Spaulding' s. 

But,  again,  it  may  be  said  that  there  is  no  doubt  that 
Joseph  Smith  was  at  one  time  in  the  employ  of  the 
brother  of  Mrs.  Spaulding,  at  whose  house  she  was  then 
residing,  just  after  her  husband's  death.  Of  course  he 
heard  all  the  talk  of  the  house,  and  much  was  said  con- 
cerning the  romance  by  Solomon  Spaulding,  which  all 
regarded  as  wonderful  both  in  style  and  substance. 
This  talk  would  naturally  make  a  great  impression  upon 
the  superstitious  mind  of  Smith.  He  would  be  very 
apt  to  take  it  as  absolute  truth,  and  without  seeing  the 
manuscript  at  all,  was  prepared  to  use  what  he  knew  of 
it  in  getting  up  one  of  the  greatest  delusions  in  the  his- 
tory of  modern  times. 

6.  Moreover,  there  can  be  no  question  at  all  concern- 
ing the  fact  that  his  mind  was  strangely  exercised  by 
the  popular  religious  movement  that  swept  through  the 
country  at  that  time,  and  his  imaginative  and  supersti- 
tious mind  was  deeply  impressed  by  the  eloquence  of 
the  different  evangelists.  He  became  familiar  with 
biblical  language,  and  followed  the  inclination  of  those 
about  him  to  listen  to  any  new-fangled  doctrine ;  and 
surely  the  religious  teachings  of  the  "  Book  of  Mor- 
mon" are  positive  evidence  of  the  strongest  character 
that  the  mind  of  Smith  and  his  coadjutors  were  greatly 
influenced  by  the  doctrinal  questions  that  were  being 
agitated  at  that  time  in  Central  New  York — Calvinism, 
Universalism,  Methodism,  Millerism,  Romanism,  Camp- 
bellism,  and  other  isms. 

Millerism  in  particular  was  attracting  great  attention 
at  that  time,  and  so  they  incorporated  into  the  "  Book 
of  Mormon''  its  leading  tenets — viz.:  that  the  millen- 


HISTORY   OF   MORMONISM.  35 

nium  was  close  at  hand  ;  that  the  Indians  were  to  be  con- 
verted ;  and  that  America  was  to  be  the  final  gathering- 
place  of  the  Saints,  who  were  to  assemble  at  the  New 
Jerusalem,  somewhere  in  the  interior  of  the  Continent. 

Perhaps,  in  the  absence  of  positive  proof  to  the  con- 
trary, it  is  the  part  of  Christian  charity  to  regard  the 
founder  of  Morinoiiism  as  a  strange  fanatic  and  religious 
enthusiast  of  the  same  general  type  as  Mohammed. 

But  however  that  may  be,  the  publication  of  the 
"Book  of  Mormon"  created  an  intense  excitement  in 
Central  and  Western  New  York  ;  for  the  public  mind  was 
at  that  time  prepared  for  any  new  religious  sensation. 

Soon  after  the  book  appeared  the  Mormon  Church  was 
formally  organized  at  the  house  of  one  Peter  Whitmer 
in  Fayette,  Seneca  County,  N.  Y.  The  membership 
consisted  of  only  six,  all  men — the  prophet  and  two  of 
his  brothers,  two  Whitmers,  and  Oliver  Cowdery,  a 
school-teacher  of  that  neighborhood.  They  said  it  was 
1800  years  to  a  day  since  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  and 
they  professed  to  beb'eve  that  their  church  was  the 
"  Church  of  Christ "  once  more  restored  to  the  earth, 
holding  the  keys  of  authority,  and  having  the  power  to 
bind  and  loose  and  seal  on  earth  and  in  heaven. 

Within  a  week  or  two  Smith  added  to  his  reputation 
by  performing  the  first  great  miracle  of  the  "  new  dis- 
pensation," which  was  performed  on  a  man  whose  visage 
and  limbs  were  frightfully  distorted  by  a  demoniacal  pos- 
session. Smith  commanded  the  evil  spirits  to  leave  him 
in  the  name  of  Christ,  and  the  man  said  :  "  I  see  them 
going  right  through  the  roof."  This  established  the 
fact  in  the  minds  of  certain  people  that  Smith  really  had 
a  divine  mission  ;  but  at  the  First  Mormon  Conference 
in  June,  Smith  found  himself  at  the  head  of  a  visible 
church  of  only  thirty  members.  This  small  number  of 


36  THE    MORMON    PUZZLE. 

adherents  showed  that  converts  were  not  to  be  rapidly 
made  in  that  vicinity.  Still,  the  excitement  concerning 
the  new  Mormon  doctrines  spread  through  Western  New 
York  into  Northern  and  Eastern  Ohio.  Members  were 
sent  West  to  preach  and  found  churches  wherever  peo- 
ple would  listen  to  them,  and  they  made  many  converts. 

In  December,  1830,  Sidney  Rigdon,  a  Campbellite 
preacher  near  Mentor,  O.,  became  a  convert.  He  was 
erratic,  but  very  eloquent  ;  self-opinionated,  but  well 
versed  in  the  Scriptures  ;  and  in  literary  culture  and  in- 
tellectual force  was  the  greatest  man  among  the  early 
Mormons.  After  this  the  new  sect  strengthened  and 
spread. 

Joseph  was  a  veritable  Numa  Pompilius  in  the  fre- 
quency arid  fitness  of  the  "  revelations  "  he  received  for 
the  guidance  of  his  people  in  things  great  and  small ; 
and  seeing  that  but  few  followers  were  gained  by  him 
near  his  home  in  New  York,  while  many  converts  were 
being  gathered  in  Ohio,  he  had  a  revelation  that  Palmyra 
was  not  a  place  for  the  Saints  to  prosper  in,  and  he  talked 
of  the  New  Jerusalem  in  the  West,  and  announced  that 
it  was  time  for  the  faithful  to  remove  with  him  to 
Kirtiand,  0. 

Smith  has  often  been  called  the  "  American  Moham- 
med," and  Mormonism  has  been  compared  to  Moham- 
medanism ;  and  in  many  respects  they  are  strikingly 
similar,  although  in  so  far  as  Mormonism  resembles  Mo- 
hammedanism it  is  true,  as  Dr.  Jessup  said  before  the 
Presbyterian  General  Assembly  at  Saratoga,  it  is  only 
"  a  pinchbeck  imitation  of  a  putty  original."  In  noth- 
ing, however,  is  there  a  greater  similarity  between  those 
two  religions  than  in  their  history.  Both  Mohammed 
and  Joseph  Smith  were  the  subjects  of  fierce  opposition 
and  even  persecution,  and  they  both  were  compelled  to 


HISTORY   OF   MOEMONISM.  37 

flee  for  their  lives.  The  Mohammedans  always  reckon 
their  time  from  the  "  Hegira,"  or  flight  of  the  Prophet 
from  Mecca  to  Medina ;  but  while  the  Mohammedans 
have  only  one  Hegiram  their  history,  the  Mormons  have 
four.  And,  for  convenience,  we  will  consider  their  his- 
tory under  these  four  divisions. 


CHAPTER  II. 

HISTORY    OF   MORMONISM 


The  First  Tfegira  from  Palmyra  to  Kirtland—  The  first  Temple—  Eapicl 
growth  of  the  Mormon  Church  —  Brigham  Young  and  other  mis- 
sionaries sent  to  foreign  lands  —  The  name  "Latter-day  Saints" 
adopted—  Smith  and  Rigdon  compelled  to  flee  from  Kirtland  —  The 
Second  Hegira  —  The  "  Danites  "  organized  —  Rapid  increase  of  the 
Mormons  in  Missouri  —  Jealousy  of  the  Missourians  —Mormons 
driven  across  the  Missouri  River  by  a  mob  —  Their  property  con- 
fiscated —Their  leaders  imprisoned. 

THE  FIRST  HEGIRA  or  exodus  of  the  Mormons  was 
from  Palmyra  to  Kirtland,  O.,  in  1831.  This  was  a 
very  tedious  journey  at  that  time,  since  they  moved  on- 
ward in  wagons,  carrying  their  household  goods  with 
them.  On  their  arrival  at  Kirtland  they  were  greeted 
by  one  thousand  Mormons,  who  were  the  converts  of 
Rigdon  and  other  Mormon  preachers. 

Kirtland  is  three  miles  from  Mentor,  the  home  of  the 
late  President  Garfield,  and  twenty-two  miles  east  of 
Cleveland,  and  is  situated  in  a  remarkably  fertile  country. 
As  soon  as  the  Mormons  arrived  there  they  purchased  a 
square  mile  of  land,  which  they  laid  out  in  half-acre  lots. 
In  addition  they  bought  a  number  of  farms.  They  evi- 
dently expected  to  remain  there  a  long  time,  since  they 
erected  a  number  of  substantial  houses,  and  a  most  beau- 
tiful temple,  which  Smith  called  the  u  School  of  the 
Prophets." 

All  Northern  Ohio  looked  on  in  astonishment  when 
the  Mormons  built  their  temple.  It  was,  indeed,  a  re- 


HISTORY   OF   MORMONISM.  39 

markable  structure.  It  was  begun  in  1832  and  finished 
in  1836,  the  entire  cost  being  $40,000.  There  was  but 
little  resemblance  between  it  and  the  small  meeting- 
houses common  to  the  rural  portion  of  Ohio  ;  and  al- 
though now  it  is  over  fifty  years  old,  yet  it  is  in  good 
preservation,  considering  the  neglect  with  which  it  has 
been  treated,  and  might  easily  be  restored  to  its  former 
beauty.  It  is  now  owned  by  Joseph  Smith,  Jr.,  the  son 
of  the  prophet,  who,  however,  has  no  affiliation  whatever 
with  the  Utah  Mormons. 

From  the  time  the  Mormons  arrived  at  Kirtland  they 
increased  with  astonishing  rapidity,  notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  they  were  generally  hated.  Rigdon  preached 
to  crowds  of  people  who  flocked  there  from  every  part 
of  the  lake  region  to  hear  his  eloquence.  He  seems  to 
have  had  a  wonderful  power  over  the  people,  and  so  great 
an  influence  that  it  is  felt  even  to  the  present  day  in  that 
vicinity. 

But  the  work  of  the  Mormons  extended  beyond  Kirt- 
land. In  the  year  of  the  First  Hegira  it  extended  over 
several  of  the  States,  and  in  three  years  afterward  Mor- 
mon societies  were  established  in  Canada,  Missouri,  Il- 
linois, Ohio,  Virginia,  New  York,  Vermont,  New  Hamp- 
shire, Massachusetts,  and  in  nearly  all  of  the  Northern 
and  Middle  States  and  in  some  of  the  Southern  States. 
A  large  number  of  converts  were  made  chiefly  through 
the  earnestness  and  captivating  eloquence  of  the  Mor- 
mon preachers  ;  for  the  more  intelligent  and  better  edu- 
cated were  sent  out  for  that  purpose.  Besides,  these 
missionaries  had  no  compensation,  and  this  was  one  se- 
cret of  their  successful  preaching.  They  braved  every 
danger  and  faced  a  frowning  world  rejoicing  in  tribula- 
tion. And  then,  too,  the  Mormons  were  a  community 
who  had  all  goods  in  common  •  and  this  fact  threw  a 


40  THE    MORMON    PUZZLE. 

fascination  over  the  new  faith  to  thousands  of  unedu- 
cated people.  They  heard  Scriptural  expressions  used 
by  the  leaders,  but  they  had  only  a  vague  idea  of  what 
it  was  they  professed  ;  but  still  there  was  a  novelty 
about  the  movement  that  captivated  them,  and  they  were 
willing  to  be  led  by  insinuating  men.  Therefore  the 
Mormon  preachers  won  converts  wherever  they  went. 
Rigdon  said  that  Kirtland  was  only  the  eastern  boundary 
of  the  promised  land,  and  that  from  thence  it  would  ex- 
tend to  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

They  were  not  content,  however,  to  obtain  followers 
only  in  our  own  country.  In  May,  1835,  missionaries 
were  sent  to  foreign  lands  to  make  proselytes  ;  among 
the  foreign  missionaries  was  Brigham  Young,  who  had 
joined  the  Mormons  at  Kirtland  in  1832,  and  was  ordained 
an  elder. 

Previous  to  this,  at  a  conference  of  elders  on  May 
3d,  1833,  the  name  "  Mormons"  was  repudiated  and 
that  of  "  Latter-day  Saints"  was  adopted. 

In  1835  Smith  issued  a  command  that  the  elders,  who 
numbered  between  three  and  four  hundred,  "  should 
seek  learning,  study  the  best  books,  and  get  a  knowledge 
of  kingdoms,  countries,  and  languages."  A  professor  of 
Hebrew  was  hired  to  teach  that  language,  and  a  semi- 
nary erected,  which  is  now  used  by  the  Methodists  of 
Kirtland  for  their  church.  ' 

The  Mormons  only  remained  in  Kirtland  seven  years. 
Trouble  had  long  been  threatening,  but  it  culminated  in 
1838,  when  Smith  and  Rigdon  were  compelled  to  flee  on 
account  of  their  bank  bursting,  with  loss  and  annoyance 
to  many  sufferers.  They  fled  to  Far  West,  Mo.,  where 
the  main  body  of  their  followers  had  in  the  mean  time 
settled.  This  may  be  called  the  SECOND  HEGIRA. 

It  was  on  this  particular  westward  march  that   the 


HISTORY    OF    MOBMONISM.  41 

prophet  organized  a  military  command  and  a  body-guard, 
and  began  to  assume  the  prerogatives  of  his  high  mili- 
tary as  well  as  spiritual  mission.  He  had  two  hundred 
disciplined  men-at-arms  after  he  reached  the  State  line 
of  Missouri  as  his  body-guard.  They  were  called 
"Danites,"  and  their  conduct  is  said  to  have  precipi- 
tated the  tragic  scenes  that  were  followed  by  the  expul- 
sion of  the  Mormons  from  that  State. 

There  had  been  some  Mormons  in  Missouri  since  1831 
when  Oliver  Cowdery,  one  of  the  original  members  of 
the  Mormon  Church,  was  sent  there  to  look  for  a  fitting 
locality  for  the  New  Jerusalem,  and,  as  they  said,  to 
evangelize  the  Indians  and  Gentiles  generally.  His  re- 
port of  Jackson  County,  Mo.,  was  so  favorable  that 
Smith  and  Rigdon  directed  their  steps  thither  under  the 
greatest  difficulties  in  travelling,  making  a  portion  of  the 
distance  of  over  three  hundred  miles  on  foot.  On  their 
arrival  at  Independence  they  were  so  charmed  with  the 
country  that  they  at  once  selected  it  as  the  place  for  the 
New  Zion  ;  and,  to  silence  all  cavil  among  his  followers, 
Smith  had  a  "  revelation"  to  that  effect. 

The  site  of  the  temple  was  chosen  with  all  the  cere- 
mony they  could  muster  for  the  occasion.  Here,  Smith 
said,  the  Latter-day  Saints  would  finally  gather,  Christ 
would  appear  in  person,  and  the  Mormons  would  reign  a 
glorious  and  triumphant  people  for  a  thousand  years. 

Smith  and  Rigdon  returned  again  to  Kirtland  and  re- 
mained there  until  1838  ;  but  meanwhile  the  Mormons 
increased  rapidly  in  Missouri,  settlements  being  made 
not  only  in  Jackson  County,  but  also  in  Clay,  Ray,  and 
Caldwell  counties  ;  and  with  their  habitual  industry  and 
thrift  they  made  homes  of  comfort  and  rapidly  gained 
wealth. 

But  while  their  general  cause  advanced,  they  were  cor- 


42  THE   MORMON   PUZZLE. 

respondingly  hated  by  their  neighbors.  Jealousy  and 
politics  seem  to  have  been  the  chief  causes  of  this  ani- 
mosity. They  had  acquired  so  much  property  that  the 
Missourians  thought  they  would  have  "  the  rule  of  the 
counties  "  through  their  numbers  and  property.  Be- 
sides, the  Mormons  were  wont  to  boast  of  their  political 
ascendancy.  They  called  their  prophet  the  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  armies  of  Israel.  They  said  that  State 
would  soon  be  in  their  hands,  and  finally  the  whole  coun- 
try. And  the  facts  seemed  to  justify  this  braggadocio, 
as  the  whole  of  Jackson  County  was  theirs,  and  converts 
were  flocking  to  their  ranks  in  great  numbers.  Accord- 
ingly, a  public  meeting  was  held  at  Independence  by  the 
alarmed  Gentiles,  which  resulted  in  the  Mormons  being 
driven  across  the  Missouri  River  by  an  infuriated  mob 
into  Clay  and  Caldwell  counties. 

With  this  dispersion  the  other  Mormon  settlements 
suddenly  developed  into  places  of  importance,  particu- 
larly a  town  called  Far  West.  It  was  here  that  Smith 
and  Rigdon  came  when  driven  out  of  Ohio  in  1838. 
With  their  coming  a  new  impetus  seems  to  have  been 
given  to  the  Mormons.  With  all  the  vexations  caused 
them  by  their  enemies,  mills,  workshops,  farms,  and  in- 
dustries of  many  kinds  sprang  up  in  the  wilderness. 

With  all  these  tragic  circumstances  there  grew  into  a 
terrible  reality  one  of  those  wild  and  romantic  histories 
which  could  only  have  taken  shape  on  a  Western  frontier, 
and  which  was  developed  by  these  unusual  incidents,  and 
by  the  vanity  and  egotistical  spirit  evinced  by  the  Mor- 
mons. They  claimed  to  be  a  chosen  people  under  special 
divine  direction.  They  shrank  not  from  urging  such 
prerogatives  and  acting  upon  them.  They  were  the 
Saints,  and  all  other  people  were  Gentiles.  They  were 
the  Lord's  Saints,  and  the  earth  was  the  Lord's.  They 


HISTORY    OF    MORMON1SM.  43 

were  led  by  an  inspired  prophet.  Consequently,  when- 
ever the  day  of  election  for  civil  officers  came,  they  must 
vote  solidly  the  Whig  or  the  Democratic  ticket,  just  as 
the  leader  should  indicate.  It  is  obvious  to  any  one 
knowing  the  fierce  zeal  of  partisan  politics  how  this 
course  on  the  part  of  the  Mormons  would  subject  them 
to  constant  embroilments  with  surrounding  citizens. 
Mutual  acts  of  plunder  and  retaliation  between  the  Saints 
and  Gentiles  became  frequent,  and  they  were  terrible  in 
their  consequences.  "We  must  recollect  all  the  while 
that  the  Mormons  were  the  persecuted  party  on  account 
of  their  eccentricities ;  and  in  a  spirit  of  retaliation 
they  in  many  instances  drove  their  opponents  from  their 
immediate  vicinity,  burning  their  houses  and  confiscating 
their  property.  Worse  than  all,  they  drove  some  women 
and  children  into  the  woods,  and  two  children  were  born 
of  homeless  mothers.  This  was  the  crowning  event  that 
fired  the  Missourians  into  a  war  of  extermination  against 
the  Mormons  ;  and  in  consequence  the  State  troops 
were  called  out  by  the  Governor,  as  he  said,  "  to  enforce 
order  upon  all  citizens,  even  if  it  was  found  necessary  to 
exterminate  the  hateful  and  obnoxious  Mormons,"  who 
were  presumed  to  be  in  the  wrong. 

A  fearful  drama  followed  under  the  leadership  of 
Major-General  Clark,  who  is  described  as  being  as  rude 
as  the  most  uncivilized  of  Mormons.  He  allowed  the 
enemy  to  withdraw  from  the  State,  but  he  took  all  their 
lands  and  property  to  pay  the  cost  of  the  war.  The 
Mormon  property  thus  confiscated  was  worth  nearly  two 
millions  of  dollars,  and  that  confiscation  was  undoubt- 
edly an  act  of  lawlessness  and  injustice. 

The  Mormon  leaders  were  arrested  and  put  in  jail,  and 
at  a  court-martial  it  was  decided  to  have  them  shot  ;  but 
that  act  would  have  been  so  grossly  unlawful  that,  on  the 


44  THE   MORMON   PUZZLE. 

protest  of  one  of  the  generals,  the  court  rescinded  its 
orders. 

With  their  leaders  in  jail,  the  Mormons  submitted  to 
the  conditions  of  peace  offered  them,  and  prepared  to 
withdraw  from  the  State  into  Illinois,  where  Joseph 
Smith  and  his  fellow-captives  joined  them  after  breaking 
from  prison  while  their  guard  was  in  a  drunken  slumber. 


CHAPTER  III. 

HISTORY  OF  MORMONISM  (continued). 

The  Third  Hegira— Sufferings  of  the  Mormons  during  their  journey 
into  Illinois— An  account  of  the  murder  of  Mormons —Influence 
of  this  persecution  on  the  minds  of  Mormons  at  the  present  time  — 
Nauvoo — Its  location — Its  growth — The  second  Mormon  Temple 
begun — Other  public  buildings — Laziness  whittled  out  of  Nauvoo 
— Internal  dissensions  among  the  Mormons — Political  troubles — 
Smith  nominated  for  President  of  the  United  States —Warrants 
issued  against  the  Mormon  leaders— Constable  driven  out  of 
Nauvoo — Civil  war  threatened — Smith  asked  to  submit  to  trial — 
Murder  of  Joseph  Smith  and  his  brother — Kigdon  excommunicated 
and  Brigham  Young  made  leader — Consecration  of  the  "  Pride  of 
the  Valley." 

THE  Third  Hegira  or  exodus  of  the  Mormons  was  far 
more  tragical  than  either  of  the  previous  ones.  Twelve 
thousand  Mormons  arrived  on  the  banks  of  the  Missis- 
sippi River  late  in  the  autumn  of  1838  in  the  most  un- 
happy plight.  Their  houses  had  been  burned,  their 
fields  laid  waste,  and  they  were  nearly  or  quite  destitute 
of  every  personal  comfort.  Every  indignity  which  had 
been  offered  to  the  Missourians  by  the  Mormons  was 
returned  with  usury  ;  and  so  terrible  were  their  suffer- 
ings that  the  hearts  of  the  Illinois  citizens  were  so 
touched  by  their  distress  that  they  received  with  hospi- 
tality those  who  had  travelled  over  the  bleak  prairies 
amid  storms  of  wind  and  rain  and  snow.  The  aged,  the 
young,  and  the  sick  had  been  alike  houseless  and  home- 
less in  the  most  inclement  season  of  the  year.  Many 


46  THE   MORMON"    PUZZLE. 

who  left  homes  of  abundance  died  from  exposure  to  the 
pitiless  elements. 

A  Mormon  poet  wrote  concerning  these  times  : 

"  Missouri, 

Like  a  whirlwind  in  her  fury, 
Drove  the  Saints  and  spilled  their  blood." 

And  if  we  can  look  at  this  part  of  their  history  calmly 
and  impartially,  can  we  fail  to  see  that  Missouri's  treat- 
ment of  the  Mormons  was  inhuman,  unlawful,  and  im- 
politic? 

A  Mormon  historian  of  these  persecutions  tells  how 
twenty  of  the  Mormons  in  the  flight  to  Illinois,  sleeping 
in  a  log  cabin  by  the  wayside,  were  shot  dead  through 
the  crevices  ;  and  after  the  massacre  was  over,  a  boy 
who  had  been  concealed  was  dragged  out  from  his  hid- 
ing-place under  a  forge  and  shot,  while  his  murderers 
danced  around  him.  This  historian  further  writes,  after 
relating  a  number  of  such  instances  of  Gentile  cruelty  : 
"  We  may  forgive  ;  BUT  TO  FORGET — NEVER."  And  no 
wonder.  Their  treatment  was  barbaric,  and  to-day  it  is 
looked  back  to  by  the  Mormons  with  just  rage,  and  is 
used  by  them  to  awaken  in  the  minds  of  their  children 
the  same  spirit  of  hatred  against  a  Government  which 
has  persecuted  them  from  their  very  beginning. 

When  to-day  it  is  said  that  the  Mormons  would  not 
be  molested  if  they  would  give  up  polygamy,  they  an- 
swer that  those  early  persecutions  took  place  before 
they  adopted  this  doctrine.  The  fact  is,  that  the  mobs 
which  attacked  the  first  Mormons  were  made  up  in  great 
part  of  the  same  low  element  that  mobs  the  Salvation 
Army — a  coarse  rabble  that,  like  a  bull-dog,  is  ready  to 
attack  anything  new.  And  as  one  nowadays  hears  a 
Mormon  tell  the  story  how  the  fathers  of  his  people 


HISTORY   OF   MORMOXISM.  47 

were  driven  out  from  their  homes  and  forced  to  endure 
hardships  untold  and  establish  new  homes  elsewhere,  if 
the  hearer  is  not  beguiled  into  sympathizing  with  the 
sufferers,  he  sees  how  the  truly  romantic  story  of  those 
early  days  can  fire  the  Mormon  heart.  He  can  then 
realize  how  many  a  young  man  who,  for  its  own  sake, 
would  care  nothing  for  his  Mormon  creed,  will  be  ready 
to  fight  desperately  for  it  in  his  indignation  at  the  perse- 
cutions heaped  upon  his  fathers.  Thus,  the  remem- 
brance of  the  persecutions  through  which  their  early 
leaders  passed  in  Missouri  operates  as  a  strong  power  to 
support  the  zeal  of  the  Mormons  to-day. 

After  such  trying  and  tragic  events,  their  property  lost 
and  their  health  greatly  shattered,  one  might  suppose 
that  the  Mormons  would  have  been  ready  to  abandon 
their  faith  ;  but  no,  they  were  too  strong  in  their  be- 
lief for  that.  Their  endurance  was,  indeed,  marvellous. 
They  clung  to  each  other  with  great  tenacity,  and  much 
pity  was  -awakened  in  their  behalf,  because  it  was  gen- 
erally believed  at  the  time  that  they  had  been  treated 
with  great  injustice.  Soon  Smith  was  presented  with  a 
large  tract  of  land  in  Hancock  County,  111.,  and  immedi- 
ately he  had  a  "  revelation"  that  this  was  the  "  centre 
spot,"  and  he  commanded  the  Saints  to  assemble  there 
to  build  a  city  and  a  temple.  The  angel  told  him  to  call 
the  city  NAUVOO,  which  he  said  meant  "  The  Beauti- 
ful." 

It  was  located  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Mississippi 
River,  forty  miles  above  Quincy,  111.,  and  twenty  miles 
west  of  Burlington,  la.  It  was  situated  at  a  bend  of  the 
river  on  rising  ground,  which  commanded  a  magnificent 
view  of  the  Mississippi  for  many  miles.  The  land  given 
to  Joseph  was  divided  into  lots  and  sold  to  the  Mormons, 
by  which  he  realized  over  one  million  of  dollars. 


48  THE   MORMON    PUZZLE. 

The  Saints  from  all  quarters  responded  to  the  call  to 
hasten  to  the  new  city,  and  it  immediately  grew  in  im- 
portance. The  Legislature  granted  it  a  charter  with  ex- 
traordinary privileges,  including  the  authorization  of  a 
military  body,  afterward  known  as  the  "  Nauvoo 
Legion,"  a  corps  to  which  all  the  male  Mormons  ca- 
pable of  bearing  arms  belonged.  Nauvoo  became  the 
capital  of  the  world  to  the  Mormons,  and  attracted  gen- 
eral attention.  It  was  changed  from  a  desert  into  an 
abode  of  plenty  and  luxury.  Gardens  sprang  up  as  if 
by  magic,  fragrant  with  the  most  beautiful  flowers  of 
the  New  and  the  Old  "World,  whose  seeds  had  been 
brought  from  distant  lands  as  souvenirs  to  the  New 
Zion  ;  broad  streets  were  laid  out,  houses  erected,  and 
the  busy  hum  of  industries  was  heard  in  the  marts  of 
commerce.  Steamboats  unloaded  their  stores,  and  pas- 
sengers came  and  departed  for  fresh  supplies  of  mer- 
chandise ;  fields  waved  with  golden  harvests,  and  cattle 
dotted  the  neighboring  hills. 

As  might  be  expected,  some  adventurers,  robbers, 
and  people  of  a  generally  disreputable  character  joined 
the  community  to  cloak  their  villainous  deeds  in  mystery 
and  religion.  Speculators,  too,  came  and  bought  prop- 
erty with  the  hope  of  large  remuneration.  These  two 
classes  of  persons  became  the  source  of  much  strife 
among  the  Mormons  themselves,  and  between  the  Mor- 
mons and  Gentiles. 

But,  marvellous  to  relate,  within  three  years  after 
their  expulsion  from  Missouri  the  Mormons  had  a  pros- 
perous city  of  10,000  people,  while  near  the  city  were  at 
least  20,000  more,  and  in  the  whole  United  States  and 
elsewhere  they  numbered  about  150,000,  not  much  less 
than  their  present  number. 

Soon  after  the  city  of  Nauvoo  had  been  laid  out,  the 


HISTORY   OF   MORMONISM.  49 

selection  was  made  for  a  remarkable  temple  which  should 
be  the  crowning  triumph  of  the  wealth  and  perseverance 
of  the  Saints,  all  of  whom  were  called  to  contribute  to 
its  erection  by  time  and  money.  The  foundation  was 
laid  with  military  ceremonies  April  6th,  1841. 

This  unique  building  was  made  of  finely- polished  white 
limestone,  and  stood  in  the  centre  of  a  four-acre  lot.  It 
was  120  feet  long  by  83  feet  in  width  and  60  feet  in 
height.  There  were  two  stories  in  the  clear  and  two  in 
the  recesses  over  the  arches,  making  four  tiers  of  win- 
dows— two  Gothic  and  two  round.  There  was  a  carved 
marble  font  resting  on  twelve  life-sized  oxen  in  marble 
in  the  basement  for  baptism.  In  structure  the  temple 
resembled  no  other  church  edifice,  but  was  remarkably 
unique  and  graceful  in  its  proportions,  particularly  the 
front  of  it,  with  its  six  fluted  columns,  its  carved  Corin- 
thian caps  and  broad  piazza.  The  walls  were  of  massive 
thickness.  The  architectural  ornaments  of  the  interior 
were  "holy  emblems,"  and  the  spire  upon  the  tower, 
which  was  100  feet  in  height,  was  tipped  with  a  gilt  angel 
and  his  Gospel  trump.  Barnum,  it  is  said,  had  this  gilt 
angel  in  his  New  York  Museum  for  years  after  the  de- 
struction of  the  temple. 

The  other  public  buildings  in  Nauvoo  were  the  Seven- 
ties' Hall,  the  Masonic  Temple,  the  Concert  Hall,  and 
the  large  hotel  which  the  Prophet  said  was  to  be  the 
"  mission-house  of  the  world,"  where  he  would  enter- 
tain emperors,  kings,  and  queens  from  the  Old  World, 
who  would  come  to  him  to  inquire  of  the  new  faith. 

This  city,  although  peculiar,  had  many  excellent  feat- 
ures. There  was  no  licensed  place  to  sell  liquors,  and 
drunkenness  was  almost  unknown.  It  was  well  gov- 
erned. All  was  order  and  peace.  There  was  great 
thrift  and  industry  among  the  people.  Loafers  or  idlers 


50  THE   MORMON    PUZZLE. 

were  in  disrepute.  If  a  stranger  entered  Nauvoo  and 
was  found  to  be  lazy  lie  was  at  once  "  whittled  "  out  of 
the  town  by  the  deacons.  This  whittling  process  was  a 
very  ingenious  thing.  It  was  a  method  by  which  the 
suspected  person  was  followed  by  certain  officials  who 
surrounded  him  or  his  abode,  and  in  unison  whittled  at 
sticks  carried  for  the  purpose.  At  first  it  might  seem  a 
matter  of  accident  ;  but  its  continuance  from  day  to  day 
was  too  much  for  human  endurance,  and  the  undesirable 
stranger  departed  to  the  satisfaction  of  his  tormentors. 
Perhaps  it  would  be  a  good  thing  if  we  had  some  similar 
way  of  ridding  ourselves  of  idlers  all  over  our  land. 

But  with  all  these  good  features,  there  were  some  indi- 
cations of  the  purpose  of  the  Prophet  to  introduce 
polygamy,  although  his  sons  deny  that  he  ever  practised 
it  or  even  believed  in  it ;  but,  however  that  may  be, 
intestine  quarrels  on  the  subject  of  polygamy  and  other 
dissensions  in  the  Mormon  ranks  served  to  bring  on  a 
crisis  in  affairs  at  Nauvoo  in  1844,  which  resulted  in- the 
murder  of  Joseph  Smith  and  his  brother,  and  the  expul- 
sion of  the  Mormons  from  the  State. 

The  real  causes,  however,  were  the  same  ones  that 
operated  against  them  in  Missouri.  The  people  in  the 
neighborhood  were  jealous  of  the  rapidly-growing  and 
flourishing  city.  They  complained  that  their  property 
disappeared  mysteriously,  perhaps  stolen  by  the  advent- 
urers and  robbers  who  had  joined  the  Mormons  just  to 
commit  such  deeds  under  a  cloak,  and  for  whose  acts  the 
Mormons,  as  a  people,  were  not  to  blame.  But  the  chief 
reason  was  political.  Smith  began  to  agitate  the  ques- 
tion of  a  restitution  of  the  property  they  had  unjustly 
lost  in  Missouri.  He  visited  Washington  and  had  an 
interview  with  President  Yan  Buren,  who  said  :  "  Sir, 
your  cause  is  just,  but  I  can  do  nothing  for  you." 


HISTORY   OF   MORMOXISM.  51 

The  Mormons  boasted  that  they  had  100,000  in  the 
faith  throughout  the  country  and  that  their  vote  was  a 
balancing  power.  They  voted  in  a  body  on  all  political 
questions.  They  even  carried  their  arrogance  so  far  in 
1843  as  to  nominate  Joseph  Smith  for  President  of  the 
United  States,  and  they  have  always  declared  that  if  he 
had  lived  until  the  next  election  he  would  have  obtained 
that  office.  The  Illinoisans,  at  any  rate,  believed  that 
the  Mormons  determined  to  rule  their  State  and  intended 
to  set  all  laws  at  defiance  ;  and  it  was  this  belief  that 
stirred  their  most  bitter  animosity  ;  but  internal  dissen- 
sions among  the  Mormons  gave  them  an  opportunity  to 
rid  themselves  of  them  in  a  most  tragic  way. 

On  account  of  troubles  among  dissenting  Mormons, 
warrants  were  issued  against  Smith  and  other  Mormon 
leaders  ;  but  the  constable  who  served  the  warrants  was 
driven  out  of  Nauvoo.  This  act  fired  the  smouldering 
hatred  of  the  Illinoisans  into  terrible  activity.  The 
county  authorities  called  out  the  militia  to  enforce  the 
law.  The  Mormons  hastily  armed,  and  a  civil  war 
seemed  impending,  when  the  governor  asked  the  Smiths 
to  surrender  and  take  their  trial  as  the  best  means  of  sat- 
isfying the  turbulent  parties. 

Now  the  charter  of  Nauvoo  had  been  so  cunningly  de- 
vised that  the  State  authorities  were  almost  excluded 
from  jurisdiction  within  its  limits  ;  and  so  the  Smiths, 
feeling  sure  of  an  acquittal,  obeyed  the  summons  of  the 
governor.  They  and  other  Mormon  leaders  were  then 
conducted  to  Carthage  and  indicted  for  treason,  and 
lodged  in  jail. 

But  on  the  27th  of  June,  1844,  an  infuriated  mob  took 
matters  in  their  own  hands,  decided  to  administer  justice 
after  their  own  fashion,  and  attacked  the  jail  early  in  the 
morning.  They  broke  down  the  doors  of  the  rooms 


52  THE   MORMON    PUZZLE. 

where  the  prisoners  wei'e  confined,  and  horribly  mas- 
sacred Joseph  and  his  brother  Hyrum. 

Now,  those  two  persons  were  defenceless  prisoners, 
and  the  Governor  of  the  State  had  pledged  to  them  safe 
conduct  to  the  jail  and  before  the  court.  Their  murder 
was  nothing  else  than  a  most  foul  assassination,  the 
gravity  of  which  was  augmented  by  the  fact  that  it  was 
perpetrated  by  those  who  claimed  to  be  upholders  of  law 
in  contradistinction  to  the  Mormons,  who  (they  said)  de- 
sired to  set  law  at  defiance. 

But,  besides  being  an  act  of  lawlessness,  it  was  the 
most  impolitic  thing  that  the  people  could  have  done. 
The  martyr-like  death  of  Smith  threw  a  mantle  of 
dignity  over  his  person  and  a  halo  of  consecration  around 
his  character  that  could  in  no  other  way  have  been 
secured  ;  and  it  is  reasonable  to  believe  that,  had  Smith 
lived  on,  his  own  many  weaknesses,  the  vulgarizing  of 
revelation  at  his  hands,  the  growing  suspicions  and  dis- 
affections  of  the  faithful,  and  the  fierce  rancor  and  dis- 
sensions of  the  factions  would  have  shivered  Mormonism 
into  pieces  and  sunk  the  fragments  into  depths  too  ob- 
scure for  the  searching  of  further  history. 

The  Mormon  people,  with  a  self-control  seldom  seen, 
sought  not  to  take  into  their  own  hands  any  measures  of 
vengeance  for  the.  murder  o£  their  cliieftain.  After 
recovery  from  the  first  consternation  over  the  awful 
tragedy,  they  began  to  ask  themselves,  Who  shall  rule 
the  Churcli  ?  Sidney  Rigdon  had  already  assumed  the 
role  of  chief  functionary,  and  had  a  revelation  on  this 
subject.  But  Brigham  Young,  who  was  President  of 
the  Twelve  Apostles,  hurried  to  Nauvoo  from  his  mis- 
sion in  Boston  ;  and  by  his  shrewd  sense,  firm  will,  and 
practical  ability  he  succeeded  in  gaining  the  leadership. 
Rigdon,  who  was  accused  of  disaffection  even  in  Smith's 


HISTORY   OF   MORMONISM.  53 

day,  was  excommunicated,  and  Brighamwas  triumphant. 
He  was  strong  where  Smith  was  weak — in  prudence, 
sagacity,  common-sense,  and  practical  energy.  These 
natural  Cromwellian  qualities  he  brought  to  the  front  and 
put  and  kept  in  force.  He  endeavored  to  heal  matters 
between  the  Mormons  and  the  Gentiles  by  pacific  advice, 
but  contentions  waxed  rather  than  waned.  The  charter 
of  Nauvoo  was  repealed  by  the  State  Legislature  in  1845, 
and  Young  gave  out  the  edict  that  the  Mormons  must 
leave  Illinois. 

But,  in  the  midst  of  these  stirring  and  exciting  scenes, 
the  Mormons  gave  a  curious  exhibition  of  their  faith  in 
Joseph  Smith.  He  had  predicted  the  completion  of  the 
temple,  and  Brigham  commanded  his  followers  to  re- 
main in  Nauvoo  in  order  to  fulfil  the  revelation  of  the 
Prophet.  Unheard-of  exertions  were  made  to  carry  out 
this  command,  and  the  temple  was  finished  to  its  mi- 
nutest ornamentation.  When  it  was  ready,  the  Mormons 
flocked  into  the  city  from  every  quarter,  and  there  was 
great  rejoicing  over  the  consecration  of  "  The  Pride  of 
the  Valley,"  as  they  called  it.  The  interior  was  elabo- 
rately decorated  with  festoons  and  wreaths  of  flowers, 
chants  were  sung,  prayers  offered,  and  lamps  and  torches 
lighted  to  make  it  resplendent.  When  all  this  was 
done,  the  walls  were  dismantled,  the  ornaments  taken 
down,  and  the  symbols  of  their  faith  removed,  to  leave 
the  noble  building  to  be  trodden  down  and  profaned  by 
the  Gentiles. 

Then  began  the  FOURTH  HEGIRA  or  exodus  of  the 
Mormons,  the  most  tragic  of  them  all. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

HISTORY  OF  MORMONisM  (concluded). 

The  Fourth  Hegira — Young's  shrewd  plan  of  a  Western  Kingdom 
— Nauvoo's  sad  end— Journey  of  the  Mormons  to  Council  Bluffs- 
Young's  forethought — The  trip  of  "  The  Pioneers  "  across  the  wil- 
derness— The  halt  at  Salt  Lake  Valley — Young  leads  the  remaining 
Mormons  from  Council  Bluffs  to  Salt  Lake  -Their  entertainment 
during  their  march — Folly  of  the  Illinoisans  in  driving  them  out 
into  the  wilderness  —Probable  result  of  tolerance  of  the  Mormons 
— Life  begun  anew  in  Salt  Lake  Valley — Salt  Lake  City  established 
— Mills  and  workshops  established  and  the  Great  Temple  begun — 
Increase  of  the  Mormon  population—Value  of  their  property  in 
Utah — Public  schools— A  final  brief  glance  at  their  history— How 
the  MORMON  PUZZLE  will  not  be  solved. 

BRIGHAM  long  ere  this  had  decided  that  his  people 
must  flee  away  to  some  remote  region  where  collisions 
and  conflicts  should  cease  ;  and  his  sturdy  will  and  untir- 
ing energy  were  exerted  to  carry  out  this  decision.  He 
selected  California  as  the  future  residence  of  the  Saints. 
At  that  time  it  formed  a  part  of  Mexico,  and  conse- 
quently was  beyond  the  control  of  the  detested  Stars  and 
Stripes  and  the  uncomfortable  people  who  had  thrice  ex- 
pelled them  from  their  dwelling-places.  Brigham  made 
known  his  purpose  to  the  people  and  declared  that  they 
would  move  as  rapidly  as  possible  across  Iowa  to  the 
Missouri  River  into  the  Indian  country  near  Council 
Bluffs  that  season. 

This  new  exodus  began  in  February,  1846,  the  bleak- 
est and  coldest  month  in  the  year  in  that  section  of  the 
country.  An  indescribable  pageant  of  ox-carts  and 


HISTORY   OF    MORMOXISM.  55 

mule- teams,  loaded  with  women,  children,  and  all  sorts 
of  furniture  passed  out  from  Nauvoo  to  the  miry  tracks 
of  the  prairies  ;  but  the  spirits  of  all,  except  the  sick 
and  helpless,  were  unbroken.  Here  Brigham  Young 
proved  himself  the  general  as  well  as  commander.  He 
directed  every  detail  of  the  evacuation.  He  arranged 
that  the  population  should  not  move  in  a  solid  body,  so 
as  to  disturb  by  their  numbers  the  inhabitants  of  the 
sparsely-populated  country  they  would  traverse,  but  they 
should  move  in  sections  carefully  selected,  following 
each  other  at  short  intervals  of  time. 

But  in  spite  of  this  preparation  there  was  a  report  that 
some  of  the  Mormons  intended  to  remain,  and,  in  viola- 
tion of  the  promises  of  the  State,  the  Illinoisans  called 
out  the  militia,  and  drove  the  defenceless  residents  who 
remained  from  their  homes  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet, 
after  bombarding  the  city  for  three  days  and  nights. 
This  was  in  the  month  of  September,  1846.  Thus  ended 
Mormon  history  in  Illinois  ;  thus  ended  the  history  of 
Nauvoo,  which  is  as  wonderful  as  that  of  any  city  ever 
built.  Its  rise,  progress,  and  destruction  occupied  only 
seven  years,  but  many  of  its  mysteries  have  yet  to  be 
told. 

Meanwhile,  Brigham  was  leading  his  companies  across 
the  prairies  to  Council  Bluffs,  their  temporary  halting- 
place.  Men  and  women  had  been  sent  forward  through 
Brigham's  foresight  to  plant  crops  by  the  wayside  for 
those  who  should  follow  to  gather  ;  but  still  there  was 
terrible  suffering  aiid  much  sickness  among  these  bands, 
who  toiled  onward  obedient  to  their  leader's  direction. 
Dreams  of  a  Mormon  Empire,  however,  upon  the  Pacific 
coast  consoled  the  people  in  great  measure  for  the  loss 
of  the  homes  from  which  they  fled  and  the  hardships  of 
their  journey.  As  they  moved  slowly  across  the  plains 


56  THE   MOKMON   PUZZLE. 

in  1846,  the  hopes  which  inspired  them  are  well  set  forth 
in  John  Taylor's  hymn,  "  To  Upper  California  ;" 

"  We'll  go  and  lift  up  our  standards, 
We'll  go  there  and  be  free  ; 
We'll  burst  off  all  our  fetters, 
And  break  the  Gentile  yoke." 

Having  reached  Council  Bluffs,  Brigham  then  was  com- 
pelled to  make  arrangements  for  the  completion  of  the 
journey.  The  obstacles  in  the  way  of  this  intention 
would  have  intimidated  a  less  courageous  man.  There 
was  still  about  two  thousand  miles  to  traverse  through  an 
almost  unknown  country  before  the  Pacific  would  lie 
before  them.  If  at  that  time  it  was  difficult  to  transport 
armed  troops  through  the  wilderness,  what  skill  and 
energy  must  it  not  have  required  to  send  a  nearly  un- 
provided-for,  feeble,  and  impoverished  company  of 
men,  women,  and  little  children  such  a  great  distance  ? 
But  his  wisdom  and  forethought  controlled  the  whole 
matter. 

In  1847  Brigham  and  one  hundred  and  forty-two 
pioneers  pushed  resolutely  westward  over  the  wilderness 
track  for  eleven  hundred  miles  ;  but  while  they  were  on 
their  journey  they  learned  that  California  had  been  con- 
quered from  Mexico,  and  that  the  Stars  and  Stripes  were 
there  supreme.  They  therefore  halted  on  their  arrival 
at  the  Salt  Lake  Valley,  and  Brigham  Young,  attracted 
both  by  the  natural  beauty  and  resources  of  that  region, 
determined  to  make  it  the  future  residence  of  the  Saints. 

They  arrived  in  the  Great  Salt  Lake  Valley  July  24th, 
and,  ever  since,  that  day  is  the  great  day  of  celebration 
for  the  Mormons,  eclipsing  the  Fourth  of  July  entirely. 
These  pioneers  began  improvements  for  domestic  com- 
fort and  prepared  as  far  as  possible  for  the  residence  of 


HISTORY    OF    MORMON1SM.  57 

the  Saints  who  were  still  at  Council  Bluffs  in  sickness, 
poverty,  and  discontent.  Getting  matters  into  material 
shape,  Brigham  returned  to  Iowa,  where  his  presence 
seemed  to  inspire  the  expectant  Mormons. 

In  the  spring  of  1848  they  started  from  Council  Bluffs 
for  Salt  Lake  ;  and  where  in  the  history  of  our  country 
will  you  find  a  more  daring  act  than  this  of  Brigham 
Young's  ?  And  where  will  you  find  a  more  heroic  one 
than  this  of  the  Mormon  people  ?  Well  has  it  been  said  : 
"  It  was  a  pilgrimage  which  has  not  been  paralleled  in 
the  history  of  mankind  since  M.oses  led  the  Israelites 
from  Egypt."  They  had  sickness,  weariness,  skirmishes 
with  the  Indians  ;  but  they  also  had  their  pleasures  and 
rewards  in  this  extraordinary  journey  of  several  months. 
They  were  surprised  with  beautiful  scenery,  and  they 
languished  over  dreary  wastes.  Brigham  told  them 
stories,  encouraged  dancing  to  make  them  merry,  and 
had  theatrical  performances  to  distract  their  attention. 
Children  were  born,  and  numbers  died  and  were  buried 
on  the  route,  but  they  pressed  on  under  their  leader's 
direction  for  their  new  home  beyond  the  States  and  their 
enemies,  and  in  the  autumn  of  1848  crossed  the  Wali- 
satch  Mountains  and  reached  the  Salt  Lake  Valley,  their 
future  home,  although  at  that  time  a  wilderness.  He- 
member  that  this  exodus  was  undertaken  with  the  ex- 
press purpose  of  placing  themselves  beyond  the  reach  of 
the  statutes  with  which  their  faith  was  in  conflict ;  but 
while  they  were  journeying  toward  their  land  of  promise, 
it  was  conquered  by  the  United  States  from  Mexico. 
Nevertheless,  they  were  in  a  remote  and  uninhabited 
portion  of  the  national  domain,  and  where  mountain  bar- 
riers and  leagues  of  wilderness  lay  between  them  and 
those  whom  they  regarded  as  their  persecutors. 

Now,  it  seems  to  me  that  the  Government  and  people 


58  THE   MORMON    PUZZLE. 

of  Illinois  did  a  most  impolitic  thing  when  they  drove 
the  Mormons  from  their  State  into  the  wilderness  of  the 
West.  I  firmly  believe  that  if  the  Mormon  Community 
had  been  allowed  to  remain  at  Nauvoo,  free  to  develop 
its  theories,  in  so  far  as  they  did  not  involve  illegal  acts, 
and  in  so  far  as  they  did,  amenable  to  the  law,  but  with- 
out illegal  interference,  the  subsequent  results  would 
have  been  greatly  changed. 

Undoubtedly  the  best  safeguard  against  error  and  its 
results  is  the  influence  of  truth  ;  and  the  magnetic  cur- 
rent of  truth  which  mingles  with  the  common-sense  of 
the  people  in  every  circle  of  society  in  a  land  like  this 
may  be  trusted  sooner  or  later,  without  the  aid  of  means 
outside  the  law  or  extra  proceedings  within  the  law,  to 
prevent  the  propagandists  of  error,  however  they  may 
associate,  from  doing  serious  damage  to  society.  Had 
the  Mormons  remained  in  Illinois  and  been  treated 
humanely,  in  free  contact  with  the  heathful  currents  of 
the  life  about  them,  the  irresistible  influence  of  a  hostile 
public  sentiment  and  of  laws  humanely  exercised  would 
undoubtedly  have  made  the  Mormon  problem  a  matter 
of  little  concern.  To  assert  the  contrary  is  to  assume 
that  law  is  inadequate  to  the  protection  of  a  community 
from  overt  acts,  and  that  the  barriers  of  religion  and 
morality  are  insufficient  for  the  protection  of  an  over- 
whelming majority  against  the  contaminating  influence 
of  a  generally  despised  minority.  We  think  we  are  war- 
ranted in  making  the  statement  that  the  people  and  au- 
thorities of  Illinois  are  in  great  measure  responsible  for 
the  development  of  a  structure  whose  abnormal  features, 
destined  to  sure  decay  in  that  State,  were  driven  to  deeper 
root  by  persecution  and  to  free  growth  by  exile.  It  is  cer- 
tainly evident  that  their  treatment  of  the  Mormon 
organization^  aside  from  considerations  of  Christian 


HISTORY    OF    MORMOXISM.  59 

charity  and  humanity,  was  lamentably  wanting  in  politi- 
cal wisdom. 

But  it  is  said  they  were  a  set  of  cut-throats  and  liber- 
tines, who  should  have  been  banished  from  all  civilized 
society  or  cast  in  the  depths  of  the  sea.  But  that  idea  is 
doubtless  a  wrong  one,  and  never  had  its  origin  in  any 
mind  except  one  full  of  prejudice.  A  picture,  which 
we  may  unquestionably  accept  as  a  fair  one,  of  the  Mor- 
mon Church  in  !N"auvoo  was  presented  in  the  diary  of  the 
late  Josiah  Quincy,  published  in  the  Independent  a  few 
years  ago.  His  dispassionate  judgment  did  not  lead  him 
to  the  conclusion,  so  general  in  those  days,  that  the  fol- 
lowers of  Joseph  Smith  were  for  the  most  part  cut- 
throats, marauders,  and  libertines  ;  on  the  contrary, 
while  finding  in  their  fanatical  ardor  that  which  opposi- 
tion might  develop  into  a  disturbing  element  in  society, 
he  credits  them  with  qualities  such  as  temperance,  in- 
dustry, and  thrift,  which  are  among  the  most  important 
essentials  of  good  citizenship. 

And,  then,  we  invite  you  to  look  upon  the  thousands 
who  poured  over  the  Wahsatch  Mountains  and  descended 
into  the  fair  valley  below.  What  think  you  of  the  men 
who  have  toiled  with  unmurmuring  bravery  for  months 
through  dangers  of  ambush  and  storm  and  flood  on  their 
westward  way  ?  Are  these  all  pretenders  and  knaves, 
or  the  willing  dupes  of  such  ?  Does  this  theory,  or  the 
idea,  of  lust  suggested  by  the  doctrine  of  polygamy 
(which  was  not  announced  until  four  years  afterward,  and 
has  never  been  practised  by  more  than  a  small  fraction 
of  the  Mormon  population),  afford  a  sufficient  explana- 
tion of  the  spirit  which  animates  this  multitude  to 
espouse  a  common  cause,  to  accept  obloquy  and  exile, 
and  to  meet  the  perils  of  the  wilderness  in  the  face  of  ap- 
proaching winter  ?  In  this  stubborn  adherence  to  a 


60  THE   MORMON   PUZZLE. 

common  purpose,  in  this  fierce  battle  with  adverse  cir- 
cumstances, in  this  devotion  to-  wives  and  children,  do 
we  find  evidence  to  warrant  the  belief  that  the  aged  men, 
the  stalwart  husbands,  and  the  youth  of  this  great  com- 
pany are  moved  solely  or  chiefly  by  the  lowest  and 
basest  of  aims  ? 

These  hundreds  of  gray-haired  women,  too,  in  the 
passionless  calm  of  old  age  ;  these  many  mothers  with 
patient  endurance  bearing  their  part  in  the  struggles  of 
this  strange  life  and  caring  tenderly  for  their  babes  ; 
these  young  wives  adhering  to  the  fortunes  of  their  hus- 
bands ;  the  maidens  found  in  so  many  groups — are  these 
representatives  of  womankind  unreasoning  bond-creatures 
or  depraved  women  whose  chief  mission  is  to  minister 
to  the  caprices  and  passions  of  base  and  brutal  men  ?  Is 
all  of  this  endurance  of  trial  with  a  devotion  approaching 
heroism  the  outcome  of  charlatanism,  hypocrisy,  and  lib- 
ertinism ?  He  who  will  answer  these  questions  in  the 
affirmative  must  be  a  blind  student  of  nature  and  human 
history.  No.  To  account  for  a  movement  like  that 
which  led  10,000  people  into  the  wilderness,  casting 
themselves  upon  the  future  with  a  wonderful  faith  and 
daring,  requires  an  inspiration  based  upon  something 
deeper  and  stronger  than  the  altogether  grovelling  and 
mercenary  motives  which  suffice  to  unite  the  fortunes  of 
those  who  are  only  adventurers  or  knaves  ?  Yes,  what- 
ever may  be  said  of  the  honesty  or  sincerity  of  those  who 
moulded  the  belief  of  these  thousands  into  its  eccentric 
form,  as  they  enter  and  take  possession  of  Utah,  they 
present  the  unmistakable  evidences  of  a  faith  founded 
on  sincere  conviction. 

Such  was  the  beginning  of  the  history  of  Mormonism 
in  Utah,  or  DESEKET,  "  The  Land  of  the  Honey -Bee," 
as  the  Mormons  called  it.  Imposition  upon  credulity 


HISTORY    OF    MORMOXISM.  61 

there  doubtless  was  ;  ambition,  charlatanry,  and  lust, 
each  may  be  supposed  to  have  had  its  place  ;  but  noth- 
ing short  of  a  belief-  to  which  men  and  women  gave 
themselves  without  reserve  could  have  accomplished  the 
results  seen.  And  only  this,  taken  in  connection  with 
the  mistaken  policy  of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  can  account  for  the  subsequent  marvellous  growth 
of  the  Mormon  organization. 

Lands  were  at  once  surveyed  and  placed  under  care- 
ful cultivation,  and  Salt  Lake  City  was  made  habitable. 
Settlements  were  established  in  every  direction,  the  soil 
was  subdued  and  irrigated  for  cultivation.  The  people 
built  the  city  and  began  the  temple  and  established 
mills,  workshops,  and  numerous  industries  under  the  per- 
sonal directions  of  the  ever- watchful  bishops.  Mission- 
ary corps  were  newly  organized  for  foreign  lands,  and 
an  Immigration  Fund  established  which  soon  resulted  in 
a  swarming  influx  to  Utah  from  all  parts  of  Europe. 

The  Mormons  have  increased  in  the  last  thirty  years 
between  five  and  six  hundred  per  cent.  The  Mormon 
population  of  Utah  from  about  11,000  in  1850  had  in- 
creased in  1880  to  a  little  over  120,000  out  of  a  total  of 
nearly  144,000.  In  place  of  a  wilderness  we  find  a  vast 
cultivated  domain  threaded  by  highways  and  railroads. 
The  wild  lands  of  1846  in  1880  yielded  a  product  in 
cereals  of  nearly  two  million  bushels,  and  in  precious 
metals  a  value  of  nearly  nine  million  and  a  half  of  dollars. 

In  the  year  1882  the  total  value  of  the  assessed  prop- 
erty of  the  Territory  was  $25,579,000.  The  public 
schools  of  the  Territory,  from  the  number  of  thirteen 
only  in  1850,  had  increased  in  1880  to  three  hundred 
and  ninety,  maintained  at  a  cost  of  more  than  $200,000. 

All  these  marvellous  results  have  been  chiefly  due  to 
the  enterprise  and  thrift  of  a  people  expelled  as  outlaws 


62  THE   MORMON   PUZZLE. 

from  Illinois,  and  under  the  ban  of  the  law  during  most 
of  their  sojourn  in  Utah. 

This,  in  brief,  is  the  history  of  the  Mormons.  And 
who  will  say  that  it  is  not  wonderful  and  strangely 
unique  ?  History,  indeed,  affords  few  examples  of  the 
growth,  from  such  humble  foundations,  of  a  fabric  based 
on  a  religious  idea,  so  important  and  enduring  as  that 
which  originated  in  the  supposed  revelations  made  over 
thirty-live  years  ago  to  Joseph  Smith,  an  obscure  resi- 
dent in  a  country  town  of  Wayne  County,  N.  Y. 

Born  in  1830  of  fanaticism  and  superstition  ;  cast  out 
from  the  place  of  its  birth  immediately  after  ;  driven  in 
contumely  from  its  refuge  in  Kirtland,  O.  ;  buffeted  in 
Missouri,  and  driven  to  Illinois  ;  baptized  in  the  blood 
of  the  Nauvoo  riots,  and  compelled  to  fly  into  the  wil- 
derness, and  there  developing  into  what  it  is  to-day  ;  with 
whatever  contempt  we  may  regard  its  origin,  with  what- 
ever loathing  we  may  look  upon  its  accursed  doctrines, 
it  seems  to  me  we  are  compelled  to  confess  that  there  is 
something  in  the  Mormon  organization  which  demands 
for  its  adherents,  in  spite  of  its  abhorrent  features,  a  de- 
gree of  respect  and  consideration.  They  should  be  given 
as  much  respect,  at  least,  as  we  would  give  the  honest 
Brahmin,  Buddhist,  or  Mohammedan.  Yea,  more;  for 
many  even  of  their  latest  converts  have  been  taken  from 
our  Southern  and  Western  States. 

They  have  had  four  HEGIRAS,  or  exoduses,  in  their 
history  thus  far  ;  and  many  think  they  see  indications, 
in  the  strong  pressure  of  the  law  that  is  now  brought  to 
bear  upon  them  and  the  temporary  flight  of  some  of 
their  leaders,  that  they  will  soon  enter  upon  another 
pilgrimage.  And  it  is  supposed  that  Mexico  will  be 
their  next  resting-place.  But  the  Mormons  are  too 


HISTORY    OF    MOmiOXISM.  63 

strongly  intrenched  in  Utah  to  be  easily  uprooted. 
They  have  too  much  at  stake  there  to  leave  unless  driven 
out  by  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  as  they  were  from  Mis- 
souri and  Illinois.  But  God  forbid  that  this  nation 
should  do  anything  which  would  drive  them  beyond  the 
borders  of  oar  land  to  infect  the  atmosphere  of  another  ! 
We  can  overcome  this  great  evil  in  this  land  of  light  and 
liberty  far  sooner  and  easier  than  it  can  be  overcome  in 
any  other  land  under  the  broad  canopy  of  heaven.  Nay, 
more  ;  we  are  responsible  for  it.  It  was  bred  and  born 
in  our  country.  Yes,  this  iniquitous  system  sprang  out 
of  the  bosom  of  the  American  nation  ;  and  the  Ameri- 
can nation  is  in  honor  bound  to  grapple  with  it  and 
throttle  it.  The  honor  of  the  nation  demands  that  it 
should  be  uprooted  as  speedily  as  possible. 

But  the  fact  is,  that  we  are  confronted  with  a  powerful 
organization,  a  gigantic  evil.  And  let  no  one  suppose 
that  a  few  words  written  on  paper  sent  out  from  Gov- 
ernment headquarters  at  Washington  would  destroy  this 
system  any  more  than  a  few  words  spoken  authorita- 
tively by  Congress  would  destroy  Romanism  or  Presby- 
terianism  in  our  land.  Many  years  will  be  required  at 
the  least  for  the  effectual  stamping  out  of  the  iniquities 
of  the  Mormon  system.  The  great  PUZZLE  to  solve  is 
this  :  What  remedies  will  be  effective  and  accomplish 
the  object  in  the  shortest  period  of  time  ? 

In  endeavoring  to  find  the  solution  of  this  puzzle,  we 
must  regard  this  system  in  its  THREEFOLD  CHARACTER — 
viz.  :  as  a  political  system,  as  a  social  system,  and  as  a 
religious  system.  This  we  will  endeavor  to  do  in  the 
chapters  that  will  follow. 


PART  H. 
THE    POLITICAL    PUZZLE. 


"  THE  strange  spectacle  presented  of  a  community,  protected  by  a 
republican  form  of  government,  to  which  they  owe  allegiance,  sus- 
taining by  their  suffrages  a  principle  and  a  belief  which  sets  at 
naught  that  obligation  of  absolute  obedience  to  the  law  of  the  land, 
which  lies  at  the  foundation  of  republican  institutions."— PRESIDENT 
CLEVELAND. 


CHAPTER  Y. 

Mormonisin  a  Theocracy — Manoeuvring  for  office  the  cause  of  the 
expulsion  of  the  Mormons  from  Missouri  and  Nauvoo— The 
"State  of  Deseret "  formed— Lands  illegally  obtained— Brigham's 
movable  house —Government  officials  compelled  to  flee— Federal 
troops  sent — The  oath  of  disloyalty— The  Endowment  rites— The 
American  flag  at  half-mast  —The  control  of  the  nation  their  aim — 
The  political  puzzle  stated — Its  causes — Necessity  of  Government 
action. 

THE  American  nation  seems  to  be  slow  to  understand, 
and  to  all  appearance  is  unwilling  to  believe,  that  the 
Mormon  Church  is  A  POLITICAL  SYSTEM  as  well  as  a  re- 
ligious system,  cherishing  ideas  and  aims  utterly  alien 
and  inimical  to  Democracy. 

But,  in  the  first  place,  it  is  essentially  a  political 
organization,  its  president  being  acknowledged  as  the 
supreme  pontiff  of  the  world,  with  both  temporal  and 
spiritual  jurisdiction  ;  and  as  such  he  is  entitled  to  the 
implicit  personal  and  unquestioning  obedience  of  all 
Mormons.  Mormonism  is  first  and  foremost  a  theoc- 
racy, and  claims  to  exercise  the  only  legitimate  civil  au- 
thority under  the  sun.  It  has  no  feature  more  charac- 
teristic and  no  purpose  more  fundamental  or  fixed  than 
that  of  entire  and  undisputed  temporal  authority.  In 
short,  in  its  very  nature  and  genius  it  is  an  organization 
transfused  and  overflowing  with  the  virus  of  disloyalty 
and  treason. 

As  early  as  1833  Joseph  Smith  was  openly  accused  of 
"  aiming  at  monarchical  power  and  authority,"  and 
in  Missouri  his  followers  inaugurated  the  practice,  which 
has  always  since  been  followed,  of  voting  solid  ;  and  this 


68  THE    MORMON    PUZZLE. 

idiosyncrasy  I  have  already  stated  was  largely  the  cause 
of  their  expulsion  from  that  State. 

Then,  crossing  to  Illinois  and  wild  with  schemes  for 
kingdom-building,  Smith's  manoeuvring  for  votes  and 
offices  was  amazing.  By  trickery  he  secured  a  charter 
which  made  the  city  of  Nauvoo  independent  of  the 
Commonwealth.  He  was  determined  to  be  civil  head 
of  Nauvoo  from  the  first,  soon  of  the  county  also,  ere- 
long of  the  State,  and  eventually  of  the  nation.  His 
political  game  was  played  so  recklessly  for  years  that  at 
length  the  fear  and  hatred  of  both  political  parties  were 
incurred,  and  they  united  to  crush  the  office-seeking 
hierarch  and  expel  his  followers. 

Then  they  made  their  enforced  exodus  westward  for 
the  express  purpose  that,  going  beyond  mountains  and 
deserts,  they  might  forever  escape  all  interference  from 
the  wicked  rulers  of  this  world,  and  could  set  up  the 
kingdom  of  God,  with  all  its  external  forms.  When  they 
started  westward  Utah  was  not  a  part  of  the  United 
States,  and  there  they  expected  to  be  beyond  the  de- 
tested Stars  and  Stripes ;  but  when  they  arrived  there, 
much  to  their  chagrin  and  disappointment,  the  flag  of 
the  free  was  supreme  over  all  that  region,  it  having  been 
wrested  in  the  mean  time  from  Mexico. 

Their  plans,  therefore,  were  completely  shattered. 
Still  they  thought  something  could  be  done  by  energy 
and  resolution  ;  and  so  they  made  haste  to  set  up  a  free 
and  independent  government,  named  "  The  State  of 
Deseret,"  hoping  that  they  would  be  received  at  once 
into  the  Union  as  a  sovereign  State.  The  modest  (?) 
limits  they  fixed  for  their  State  included  an  area  of  about 
700  miles  square,  or  one  tenth  of  the  national  domain. 
Deseret  would  extend  from  Oregon  to  the  Mexican 
boundary,  and  from  the  Rockies  to  the  Pacific,  or  over 


THE   POLITICAL   PUZZLE.  69 

the  whole,  or  large  parts,  of  nine  of  our  largest  Terri- 
tories. 

Brigham  Young  was  elected  governor  of  this  illegal 
Mormon  State,  some  of  whose  illegal  legislative  ordi- 
nances were  afterward  incorporated  into  the  Territorial 
statute-book  ;  and  for  many  years  after  Congress  or- 
ganized the  Territorial  government,  this  unlawful 
"  State  of  Deseret  "  organization  was  maintained,  colli- 
sion between  the  two  being  prevented  by  the  fact  that 
Brigham  Young  was  governor  of  both.  The  bogus 
State  organization  was  the  controlling  power.  Under 
its  influence  all  sorts  of  arbitrary  anti-American  laws 
were  passed  by  which  leading  members  of  the  priest- 
hood became  the  virtual  owners  of  the  mountain 
streams,  the  timbers,  and  the  best  part  of  the  public  lands. 
The  right  of  the  American  people  to  these  lands  was 
ignored,  and  through  the  incorporation  of  some  thirty- 
seven  little  villages  in  the  rich  valleys  of  Utah,  more 
than  400,000  acres  of  the  public  lands  were  arbitrarily 
withdrawn  from  the  control  of  the  laws  of  Congress  and 
appropriated  by  these  priestly  leaders.  This  was  done 
for  the  express  purpose  of  preventing  those  who  were 
not  Mormons  from  securing  any  of  the  public  lands  in 
Utah. 

There  is  a  block  of  18,000  acres  lying  in  the  southern 
part  of  the  rich  and  productive  Cache  Valley  north  of 
Salt  Lake  City,  which  Brigham  Young  secured  by 
trampling  the  laws  of  the  United  States  under  foot.  It 
is  said  that  he  had  a  four-roomed  house  built  on  runners. 
Hauling  it  to  the  centre  of  a  section  of  land,  each  one  of 
the  four  quarters  would  have  a  room  on  its  corner. 
Four  men  would  sleep  there  one  night,  each  occupying 
a  separate  room  ;  and  the  next  day  they  would  make 
pre-emption  filings  at  the  land-office,  while  four  other 


70  THE   MORMOK   PUZZLE. 

men  would  perform  a  similar  act  the  next  day  and  night  ; 
and  so  on,  until  most  of  the  beautiful  Cache  Valley  was 
thus  entered.  Soon  afterward  the  men  appeared  at  the 
land-office,  paid  over  $1.25  per  acre,  and  then  they 
deeded  the  land  to  Brigham  Young. 

When  the  Government  of  the  United  States  h'rst  un- 
dertook to  establish  a  surveyor-general's  office  in  Salt 
Lake  City  for  the  sake  of  surveying  the  public  lands  and 
disposing  of  them  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  Con- 
gress, the  surveyor-general  was  given  to  understand  that 
that  country  belonged  to  the  Mormons,  and  he  had  to  fly 
for  his  life.  In  1856  all  the  representatives  of  the  Gov- 
ernment without  exception  had  to  escape  from  the  Ter- 
ritory to  save  their  lives,  and  were  plainly  shown  that 
Americans  had  no  rights  in  Utah. 

And  when,  with  a  new  body  of  Federal  representatives, 
there  soon  came  a  military  force  under  General  Sidney 
Johnston  sufficient  to  compel  respect  and  obedience, 
Brigham  Young  cursed  the  Government,  the  troops,  and 
the  Gentiles,  and  in  his  usual  coarse  and  emphatic  style 
declared  that  he  would  "  send  them  all  to  hell  on  wooden 
legs,"  and  that  they  had  better  supply  themselves  then, 
when 'lumber  was  cheap.  I  mention  these  facts  simply 
to  show  that  the  main  object  of  the  Mormon  leaders  from 
the  very  first  was  to  establish  a  separate  and  independent 
government  of  their  own,  whose  authority  should  be 
considered  by  the  Mormon  people  superior  to  the  author- 
ity of  the  Federal  Government.  And  this  accounts  for 
the  conflict  which  has  existed  between  the  Mormon 
authorities  and  the  United  States  Government  for  the 
past  thirty-five  years,  and  which  is  still  going  on. 

But  not  only  does  this  hostility  to  our  Government 
arise  out  of  the  fundamental  idea  of  their  religion  as  a 
THEOCRACY,  and  hence  opposed  to  democracy ;  but  also, 


THE   POLITICAL   PUZZLE.  71 

and  in  great  part,  because  of  their  early  persecutions  in 
the  States  of  Missouri  and  Illinois,  and  the  unavenged 
murder  of  their  chief  \  Joseph  Smith,  whom  they  re- 
garded as  God's  greatest  prophet.  The  inhumanity, 
barbarity,  and  injustice  that  was  meted  out  to  them  in 
their  early  history  I  have  already  mentioned  ;  and  in 
considering  this  perplexing  puzzle,  we  must  recollect 
that  the  Mormons  have  some  cause  for  their  enmity  to 
our  Government.  On  account  of  wrongs  done  them, 
they  are  the  sworn  enemies  of  the  Government  and  peo- 
ple of  our  land. 

They  practise  certain  secret  and  mysterious  ordinances 
known  as  "  ENDOWMENTS.  "  To  the  faithful  Mormon 
these  are  made  to  seem  precious  initiatory  rites  whereby 
he  is  advanced  in  his  knowledge  of  the  true  faith  and 
exalted  by  the  possession  of  new  privileges.  In  reality 
they  are  a  sort  of  crudely-acted  religious  drama,  not  un- 
like the  miracle  plays  of  the  twelfth  and  fifteenth  cen- 
turies. God  and  Satan,  Adam  and  Eve,  and  others  are 
persons  in  the  drama.  In  its  course  there  is  a  jumble 
of  washings  and  anointings,  of  grips,  and  key-words  and 
new  names,  and  the  investiture  of  each  of  the  initiated 
in  an  Endowment  robe.  This  sacred  undergarment  is 
always  thereafter  to  be  worn  next  to  the  person,  care- 
fully shrouding  it  at  the  last  for  its  burial.  There  are 
also  prayers  and  solemn  promises  and  awful  oaths,  with 
penalties  more  awful,  appended.  It  has  been  charged 
against  these  rites  that  they  are  scenes  of  indecency  and 
licentiousness  ;  but  probably  the  charge  is  false.  Ab- 
surd, irreverent,  and  even  blasphemous  they  doubtless 
are,  but  it  is  to  be  believed  not  indecent. 

Now,  among  the  oaths  there  taken  is  one  of  resentful 
hostility  to  the  American  nation  for  not  avenging  the 
death  of  Joseph  Smith  or  righting  the  persecutions  of 


72  THE   MORMON    PUZZLE. 

the  Saints  ;  and  thus  the  secret  endowment  ceremonies 
act  as  a  powerful  agency  in  ministering  an  unpatriotic,  if 
not  treasonable,  bent  to  the  Mormon  system.  Every 
Mormon  who  passes  through  the  Endowment  House 
takes  an  oath  of  eternal  enmity  against  the  people  and 
Government  of  this  land. 

Yes,  the  fact  is  that  there  are  130,000  people  in  Utah 
cursing  the  American  flag  !  And  this  was  clearly  seen 
on  the  Fourth  of  July  last  [1885],  when  the  Stars  and 
Stripes  were  hung  at  half  mast  on  the  Mormon  buildings 
of  Salt  Lake  City.  Thus  did  they  insult  the  whole 
American  nation,  and  show  their  disloyalty  in  an  unmis- 
takable manner. 

They  are  taught  to  be  traitors  to  the  Government. 
The  children  do  not  know  the  name  of  our  President, 
and  are  told  that  John  Taylor  is  their  President.  Many 
of  the  Mormons  are  scarcely  conscious  that  there  is  a 
world  outside  of  Utah.  Salt  Lake  City  is  their  Mecca, 
and  John  Taylor  is  greater  than  all  the  kings  of  the 
earth.  They  all  believe  him  to  be  at  the  head  of  the 
Government,  and  that  the  laws  are  broken  when  his 
commands  are  not  obeyed.  It  is  flatly  denied  that  the 
State  has  any  authority  over  them,  and  it  is  expected 
that  all  Mormons  will,  if  required,  shed  their  blood  in 
resisting  the  civil  power  if  it  interferes  with  their  laws 
and  customs. 

The  country  at  large  seems  blindly  ignorant  of  the 
dangerous  character  of  this  institution  that  rears  its  in- 
solent crest  in  the  very  heart  of  our  country.  The  truth 
is,  that  in  Mormonism  we  are  confronted  with  an  organ- 
ized treason  against  our  Government  and  our  laws.  Its 
spirit  is  that  of  rebellion.  It  will  not  down  ;  on  the 
contrary,  it  is  growing  and  spreading  daily.  The  Mor- 
mons are  penetrating  Idaho,  Wyoming,  Colorado, 


THE   POLITICAL   PUZZLE.  73 

Arizona,  Nevada,  and  Washington  Territory.  The  in- 
come of  the  Church  is  about  $3,000,000  annually,  and  is 
used  in  propagating  the  faith.  Emissaries  are  sent  to 
England,  Sweden,  and  Denmark,  proselyting  the  igno- 
rant, and  bringing  them  to  our  shores  at  the  rate  of  about 
two  thousand  every  year,  to  swell  the  number  in  their 
kingdom.  One  of  the  probable  objects  to  be  attained 
by  the  promulgation  of  the  doctrine  of  polygamy  was 
the  speedier  increase  of  their  numbers  than  could  be  ob- 
tained in  the  ordinary  Christian  way.  Their  number  in 
our  land  at  the  present  time  is  about  150,000,  and  they 
openly  boast  of  their  power  in  politics.  Recently  Bishop 
Lunt,  of  Cedar  City,  Utah,  in  addressing  a  gathering  of 
the  Saints,  declared:  "We  look  forward  with  perfect 
confidence  to  the  day  when  we  will  hold  the  reins  of  the 
United  States  Government.  That  is  our  present  tem- 
poral aim  ;  after  that  we  expect  to  control  the  Conti- 
nent. "  And,  after  speaking  of  how  rapidly  the  Mor- 
mons are  spreading  in  the  Territories  and  in  Nevada,  he 
said  :  "  All  this  will  in  time  help  us  to  build  up  a  polit- 
ical power  which  will,  sooner  or  later,  compel  the 
homage  of  the  demagogues  of  the  country.  Then,  in 
some  great  political  crisis,  the  two  political  parties  will 
bid  for  our  support.  Utah  will  be  admitted  as  a  polyg- 
amous State,  the  other  Territories  we  have  peacefully 
subjugated  will  be  admitted  also,  and  then  we  will  hold 
the  balance  of  power  and  will  dictate  to  the  country.  In 
time  our  sacred  principles  will  spread  throughout  the 
United  States." 

That  is  their  confessed  plan,  and  in  its  execution  they 
are  shrewd  and  far-seeing  politicians.  No  men  better 
understand  how  to  run  "  the  machine. ' '  If  any  one  takes 
the  Mormon  leaders  to  be  fools,  he  is  wonderfully  mis- 
taken as  to  their  capacity.  But  while  this  is  a  shrewd 


74  THE   MORMON    PUZZLE. 

plan  from  the  Mormon  standpoint,  it  seems  to  me  that  a 
great  deal  of  alarming  talk  has  been  needlessly  uttered 
about  the  fact  that  the  Mormons  are  no  longer  staving 
in  Utah  exclusively,  but  are  going  into  other  Territories 
also  and  trying  to  subjugate  them.  The  scattering  of 
the  Mormons  would  be  the  very  best  way  to  break  up 
the  evil  which  would  result  from  their  political  power. 
If  only  the  Mormons  were  to  divide  up,  and  companies 
of  them  go  to  every  Territory,  their  political  power 
would  be  broken  ;  for  they  would  be  but  a  small  mi- 
nority of  the  people  of  any  Territory,  and  their  votes 
would  be  neutralized.  The  only  danger  is  in  their  being 
so  massed  together  as  to  control  by  their  votes  the  State 
or  the  Territory  wherein  they  dwell ;  and  the  United 
States  and  the  Territories  should  be  on  their  guard  so  as 
to  prevent  their  becoming  a  majority  or  even  a  large 
minority  of  the  people  in  any  one  State  or  Territory 
where  there  are  Mormon  colonies  at  present.  But  it  is 
not  very  probable  that  the  Mormons  will  in  the  near 
future  become  the  controlling  element  in  any  Territory 
or  State  outside  of  Utah. 

The  only  political  puzzle  that  we  have  now  to  unravel 
is  in  connection  with  Utah  •  and  it  is  caused  by  two 
things :  The  first  is  that  the  Mormons  are  greatly  in 
the  majority \  the  Gentiles  numbering  about  30,000, 
while  the  Mormons  number  about  120,000.  The  second 
is,  that  the  Mormons  always  vote  solid.  If  only  their 
vote  would  be  divided,  as  the  Roman  Catholic  vote  and 
the  vote  of  other  church  organizations,  the  evil  would 
not  be  so  great ;  but  on  account  of  the  completeness  of 
their  church  organization,  the  vote  of  all  the  Mormons 
is  under  the  control  of  the  priesthood.  One  need  not 
study  long  to  note  how  thoroughly  and  skilfully  organ- 
ized for  power  the  Mormons  are.  One  will  directs,  and 


THE    POLITICAL   PUZZLE.  75 

by  ecclesiastical  communications  and  telegraphic  wires 
the  direction  is  speedily  known  unto  the  utmost  limit  of 
the  land  of  their  habitation,  and  promptly  the  entire 
massed  body  moves  in  the  line  directed!  Petty  offices 
abound  in  the  system,  and  greater  offices  are  rewards. 
There  is,  in  fact,  no  organization  on  earth,  unless  it  be 
the  Jesuit,  that  is  so  well  fitted  as  the  Mormon  to  interest 
and  keep  loyal  the  members,  to  combine  their  faculties 
and  forces,  and  to  move  that  combination  with  efficiency 
and  power  whithersoever  one  master-will  dictates.  It  is 
a  mighty,  terrible,  solid  pyramid,  with  John  Taylor  and 
his  two  counsellors  for  its  apex  ;  the  twelve  apostles 
come  next  ;  then  the  seventy,  the  patriarchs,  high- 
priests,  elders,  bishops,  priests,  teachers,  and  deacons  ; 
then,  last  of  all,  the  women  at  the  base.  Every  fourth 
man  is  an  officer  ;  and  as  every  member  is  sworn  to 
obedience  to  the  one  above  him,  the  result  is  that  the 
head  of  the  Church  always  casts  the  vote  of  the  whole 
body. 

In  an  article  on  "  The  Mormon  Church,"  by  Victoria 
Reed,  in  the  Bay  State  Monthly t  not  long  ago,  it  was 
stated  as  an  illustration  of  the  despotism  of  this  institu- 
tion that  at  church  conferences  there  is  never  a  dissent- 
ing voice,  and  at  the  polls  always  the  same  unanimous 
vote.  Every  Mormon  has  a  vote  to  be  cast  as  John 
Taylor  dictates  ;  and  while  the  leaders  of  the  Saints  ob- 
serve the  forms  of  republican  polity,  their  despotism  is 
as  absolute  in  its  control  as  any  on  earth. 

The  great  political  fact^  then,  that  we  have  to  deal 
with  is  this  :  One  of  our  Territories  is  in  the  control  of  a 
despotism,  which  defies  our  J^"ational  Government,  pas- 
sively perhaps,  nevertheless  effectually,  and  scoffs  and 
spits  at  its  rulers. 

THE  POLITICAL  PUZZLE  is  how  effectually  to  wrest  the 


76  THE   MORMON    PUZZLE. 

Territory  from  the  hands  of  the  Mormon  Presidency,  and 
establish  there  a  Kepublican  government  in  fact  as  well 
as  in  form — a  government  which  will  be  in  harmony 
with  American  principles  and  institutions. 

Something,  surely,  should  be  done.  The  United 
States  should  not  yield  to  this  anti-American  domination 
over  so  large  a  strip  of  her  territory.  She  should  as- 
sert her  authority,  and  maintain  it  there  as  elsewhere 
throughout  our  land.  Surely,  those  who  say  "  let  it  be" 
are  not  cognizant  of  the  vast  territory  which  is  now  gov- 
erned by  the  Mormon  hierarchy.  As  Joseph  Cook  says  : 
"  The  State  of  Vermont  can  be  hidden  away  iii  one  of 
the  valleys  of  Utah  and  be  no  larger  than  a  babe  in  a  bed 
of  full  size. "  Utah  has  84,476  square  miles  of  territory  ; 
Vermont  only  10,200  square  miles.  Massachusetts,  with 
her  7,800  square  miles,  could  be  hidden  away  in  one 
corner  of  this  Mormon  kingdom.  Utah  is  larger  than 
all  New  England,  and  about  equal  in  size  to  the  Empire 
State  and  Keystone  State  combined.  Besides,  its  position 
is  central,  in  the  most  important  mining  region  on  the 
planet  ;  and  also  central  in  a  group  of  undeveloped 
commonwealths,  containing  nearly  a  third  of  the  terri- 
tory of  the  United  States.  No  ;  our  Government  dare 
not  allow  this  Territory  any  longer  to  be  ruled  by  an 
authority  which  is  in  deadly  hostility  to  it,  and  sanctions 
what  the  law  of  the  land  condemns. 


CHAPTEK   VI. 

THE    POLITICAL    PUZZLE 


THE  POSSIBLE  EEMEDIES  —  The  military  remedy  —  The  Government 
responsible  for  the  situation  in  Utah—  The  disfranchisement  of 
polygamists  —  Federal  trustees  for  the  Mormon  Church  corpora- 
tion —  Confiscation  of  unlawful  funds  —  False  statements  about 
Mormons—  Letters  from  the  two  Bancrofts—  The  dissolution  of  the 
Emigrating  Fund  Company  —  The  Federal  Commission  remedy  — 
The  Woodburn  bill,  or  Idaho  statute. 

THE  question  at  once  arises,  What  remedies  should 
we  adopt  to  get  rid  of  this  political  evil  —  this  imperium 
in  imperio.  The  moral,  the  legal,  and  the  military  are 
open  to  our  choice. 

There  are  some  who  think  that  the  evil  is  so  great  and 
the  danger  to  our  republican  institutions  so  threatening  as 
that  there  can  be  no  adequate  remedy  short  of  THE  MILI- 
TARY. Such  a  remedy,  they  acknowledge,  would  be 
severe,  but  the  offence  they  consider  as  great  beyond 
parallel,  and  the  exigency  most  grave. 

But  for  one  I  am  an  advocate  of  peace.  If  there  is 
any  other  possible  way  of  overcoming  the  evil,  the  use 
of  the  military  arm  should  not  be  advocated,  for  it 
would  necessarily  result  in  numberless  widows  and 
orphans,  and  involve  a  heavy  expense  of  blood  and  treas- 
ure. Bullets  have  no  eloquence  for  the  American  peo- 
ple. The  less  gunpowder  we  can  get  along  with  the 
better.  Our  old  wounds  are  not  yet  healed,  and  we  are 
not  hankering  after  a  fresh  fray.  The  order  from  head- 
quarters which  would  summon  the  army  to  Utah  would 


78  TIIK    MORMON    PUZZLE. 

send  a  shiver  through  the  heart  of  the  nation.  Sup- 
pression by  force  of  bayonet  is  the  very  last  resort,  and 
we  have  not  yet  reached  that  point ;  and  God  forbid 
that  we  shall  ever  come  to  that  ! 

Besides,  let  us  ask  the  question,  Who  is  responsible 
for  the  present  state  of  affairs  in  Utah  ?  We  have  al- 
ready conclusively  shown  that  the  people  and  authorities 
of  Illinois  were  responsible  for  their  isolation  in  the 
West,  since  they  drove  them  away  from  the  surround- 
ings that  were  calculated  to  modify,  and  finally  to 
change,  the  drift  of  sentiment.  Yes,  it  was  on  account 
of  the  un- Christian  policy  of  the  Illinoisans  that  we  find 
the  Mormons  in  a  Western  domain  wide  enough  for  a 
kingdom,  and  practically  as  far  from  the  seat  of  author- 
ity as  if  responsible  to  a  power  beyond  the  sea. 

And  what  was  the  policy  pursued  by  the  National 
Government  toward  them  there  ?  In  the  light  of  the 
fires  kindled  at  Nauvoo,  it  would  seem  that  statesman- 
ship would  have  discovered  a  necessity  for  the  adoption 
of  measures  calculated  to  restrain  the  evil  tendencies  of 
Mormonism  and  prevent  it  from  developing  into  an  organ- 
ization which  must  inevitably  sooner  or  later  bring  it  into 
open  conflict  with  the  laws  of  the  land.  But  where  in  the 
records  of  Congress  or  upon  the  statute-books  is  there 
any  evidence  of  the  really  serious  and  statesmanlike  con- 
sideration which  this  movement  demanded  ?  There  were 
a  people  openly  seeking  a  refuge  where  they  would  be 
free  to  disregard  the  popular  opinion  left  behind  them 
and  to  transgress  the  laws  of  the  Government  to  which 
they  owed  allegiance.  Were  restrictive  influences  pro- 
vided ?  Did  the  Government  guard  against  the  realiza- 
tion of  the  boasted  dreams  of  extended  domain  and  self- 
government  entertained  by  this  law-defying  people  by 
erecting  guards  against  undue  encroachment  on  the 


THE   POLITICAL   PUZZLE.  •  79 

public  domain  and  by  providing  a  government  with  the 
necessary  machinery  for  securing  the  impartial  reign  of 
law  and  order  ?  Were  provisions  made  which  would 
encourage  the  immigration  into  this  garden-land  of  any 
portion  of  the  law-abiding  thousands  who  were  landing 
upon  our  shores,  and  whose  presence  in  Utah  would 
have  been  a  bulwark  against  and  an  ultimate  cure  of  the 
evils  of  Mormonism  ? 

The  facts  are  the  best  answers  to  these  questions. 
There  was  a  total  absence  of  wise  legislation  at  the  be- 
ginning. Afterward,  laws  were  enacted  calculated  to 
suit  the  use  of  those  whom  they  should  have  controlled. 
Then  its  laws  and  authority  were  nullified  with  impu- 
nity ;  and  now  we  find  a  people  of  law-breakers  waxed 
strong  and  maintaining  an  attitude  of  defiance  to  author- 
ity in  the  face  of  anathemas  from  the  pulpit  and  the 
press,  and  a  hot  fusilade  of  ineffective  enactments  from 
the  halls  of  Congress.  This  is  the  outcome  of  national 
legislation  for  Utah  during  the  last  thirty-five  years. 

In  view  of  the  facts,  we  venture  to  affirm  that  the  re- 
sponsibility for  the  present  condition  of  affairs  does  not 
wholly  lie  at  the  door  of  the  Mormon  Church,  and  much 
less  at  the  doors  of  those  who  constitute  the  mass  of  the 
•  Mormon  people.  Justice  demands  that  the  responsibil- 
ity be  laid  at  the  door  of  the  Government  and  people  of 
the  United  States. 

And,  •  surely,  fire  and  sword  are  not  the  instruments 
with  which  to  cure  the  evils  which  our  own  supineness, 
want  of  statecraft,  and  mis-legislation  have  permitted  to 
poison  the  atmosphere.  A  Government  which  is  itself 
largely  responsible  for  the  evil  it  seeks  to  cure  is  in  duty 
bound  to  consider  well  and  act  wisely  in  the  application 
of  remedies. 

But  while  the  responsibility  of  the  Government  and 


80  THE   MORMON    PUZZLE. 

people  of  the  United  States  binds  them  to  the  applica- 
tion of  a  cure  for  the  evils  invited  which  shall  not  be  in- 
tolerant or  inhuman,  it  does  not  forbid  the  use  of  effec- 
tive remedial  measures  suggested  by  political  expediency 
and  in  keeping  with  Christian  charity.  Still,  it  is  well 
for  us  to  remember  that  we  are  bound  as  Americans  to 
deal  with  this  pernicious  system  on  American  princi- 
ples, and  as  Christians  to  deal  with  it  on  Christian  prin- 
ciples. 

The  only  measure  which  has  yet  been  enacted  looking 
to  the  cure  of  the  political  evil  in  Utah  was  the  disfran- 
chisement  of  the  polygamists  by  the  Edmunds  law  of 
1882  ;  but  although  they  have  been  disfranchised  and 
rendered  inelegible  to  office,  they  are  only  about  12,000 
— a  very  small  fraction  of  the  Mormons  ;  and  practically 
the  old  men,  the  Mormon  leaders,  who  have  controlled 
the  affairs  of  Utah  for  thirty  years,  have  simply  abdicated 
in  favor  of  their  sons.  Consequently  the  Territory  is 
still  under  Mormon  rule,  and  the  priesthood  ha.ve  it  in 
their  iron  grasp.  This  law  is  good  so  far  as  it  goes,  but 
does  not  go  far  enough  to  effectually  cure  the  evil. 

But  other  and  more  radical  measures  have  been  pro- 
posed. 

By  the  new  Edmunds  Bill,  which  passed  the  Senate  on  - 
January  8th,  1886,  it  is  provided  that  the  President  of 
the  United  States  shall  appoint  fourteen  trustees  to  ad- 
minister the  property,  business  affairs,  and  operations  of 
the  Mormon  Church  corporation. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  this  act  strikes  at  the  root  of 
the  political  evil  in  Utah,  for  the  vast  wealth  of  the 
Mormon  Church  in  the  control  of  the  priesthood  is  the 
foundation  of  their  power.  Nevertheless,  the  wisdom, 
constitutionality,  and  effectiveness  of  the  act  are  very 
questionable. 


THE   POLITICAL   PUZZLE.  81 

In  the  first  place,  if  that  law  could  be  enforced,  it 
would  open  wide  the  door  of  the  meanest  kind  of  politi- 
cal jobbery.  It  is  the  most  delicious  bit  of  patronage  to 
which  we  have  been  treated  for  a  long  time.  Fourteen 
gentlemen  are  to  be  rewarded  for  distinguished  party 
services  by  the  appointment  to  handle  Mormon  money. 
This  is  a  new  kind  of  party  plum,  and,  in  my  opinion, 
is  simply  infamous. 

But,  in  the  second  place,  there  are  grave  doubts  as  to 
its  constitutionality.  It  is  with  much  hesitation  that  we 
call  in  question  the  constitutionality, of  an  act  which  is 
fathered  by  so  conscientious  a  constitutionalist  as  Sena- 
tor Edmunds  and  carried  by  a  large  majority  in  so  con- 
servative a  body  as  the  United  States  Senate.  From 
their  standpoint,  perhaps,  it  is  constitutional ;  but  from 
another  standpoint  it  seems  to  be  plainly  unconstitutional. 
Congress  is  specifically  prohibited  from  passing  any  law 
respecting  an  establishment  of  religion  or  prohibiting  the 
free  exercise  thereof.  The  Mormon  Church  is  a  religious 
organization,  no  matter  how  false  its  religion  may  be. 
The  Edmunds  Bill  places  it  under  the  care  of  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States,  and  provides  for  the  ad- 
ministration of  all  its  temporal  affairs.  Now,  if  this  can 
be  done  respecting  the  Mormon  Church,  it  can  be  done 
respecting  the  Catholic  Church  or  any  one  of  the  many 
Protestant  establishments  in  our  land.  And  who  can 
doubt  that  if  all  the  vast  property,  real  and  personal,  of 
the  Catholic  Church  were  taken  possession  of  by  the 
Government,  and  its  management  placed  in  the  hands 
of  fourteen  trustees  appointed  by  the  President — who 
can  doubt  that  it  would  prohibit  materially  the  free  ex- 
ercise of  that  religion  by  its  millions  of  communicants  in 
this  country  ?  Clearly,  then,  the  attempt  to  control  the 
Mormon  Church  corporation  by  Government  officials  is 


82  THE   MORMON    PUZZLE. 

contrary  to  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  Constitution,  and 
entirely  foreign  to  the  spirit  of  American  institutions. 
If  the  United  States  once  enters  upon  the  business  of 
administering  church  property,  the  Mormons  may  not  be 
the  last  victims. 

Besides,  if  Congress  has  the  right  to  appoint  trustees 
of  a  religious  corporation  in  the  Territories,  then  the 
State  Legislatures  would  have  the  right  to  appoint  simi- 
lar trustees  in  the  States,  and  there  would  be  nothing  to 
prevent  a  legislative  body  governed  by  infidels  from 
putting  all  church,  property  into  secular  hands,  or  a 
Protestant  or  a  Roman  Catholic  legislative  body  from 
dealing  in  a  similar  manner  with  the  trustees  of  churches 
of  an  opposite  faith.  And,  therefore,  we  regard  this 
proposed  act  to  place  the  control  of  the  Mormon  Church 
property  into  hands  antagonistic  to  its  spirit  as  a  most 
dangerous  departure  from  American  principles. 

But,  in  the  third  place,  the  act  would,  in  all  proba- 
bility, ~be  ineffective.  It  is  precisely  what  the  rules  of 
blood  and  iron  in  Germany  under  the  inspiration  of  Bis- 
marck attempted  to  do  with  the  Catholic  Church  a  few 
years  ago.  Bismarck  said  just  what  Senator  Edmunds 
said  :  "  We  do  not  propose  to  prohibit  anybody  from 
believing  in  and  practising  the  faith  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  but  the  Government  of  Germany  intends  to 
take  charge  of  all  its  temporal  affairs — to  appropriate  its 
property  and  administer  it  as  we  see  tit  to  do."  But 
there  in  Germany,  where  the  power  of  the  Government 
is  absolute,  this  was  found  impossible. 

And  if  impossible  there,  it  will  be  doubly  so  here. 
Very  likely  if  this  proposition  should  become  a  law,  and 
trustees  be  sent  into  the  Territory,  they  would  find 
themselves  mere  official  ornaments  without  anything  to 
do,  for  they  would  find  no  funds  of  which  to  take  pos- 


THE   POLITICAL   PUZZLE.  83 

session.  The  Mormons  say  that  whatever  property  their 
Church  has  is  owned  and  held,  just  as  the  property  of 
the  Presbyterian  or  Methodist  Church,  by  the  respective 
congregations.  Formerly  its  property,  real  and  per- 
sonal, was  held  as  that  of  the  Catholic  Church  is — by  a 
trustee  in  trust,  and  administered  in  the  same  way.  The 
President  of  the  Church,  like  the  bishop,  was  the  nominal 
owner,  but  held  it  in  trust  for  the  various  congregations 
or  parishes  ;  but  the  Mormon  Church  authorities  have 
determined  that  the  property  should  be  held  and  admin- 
istered by  and  for  each  respective  congregational  or  ward 
organization  ;  and  so  you  see  that  if  trustees  were  ap- 
pointed they  would  likely  find  that  the  Mormon  Church 
Corporation  had  no  funds. 

Along  with  this  enactment,  there  is  another  which 
provides  for  the  confiscating  of  the  funds  unlawfully 
gathered  ~by  the  Mormon  Church. 

Now,  this  act  is  not  open  to  the  same  constitutional 
objection  that  the  preceding  is.  It  is  a  legal  proposal, 
for  only  $50,000  can  be  held  by  any  religious  organiza- 
tion free  from  taxation  ;  bat  its  wisdom,  justice,  and 
practicability  are  very  doubtful. 

Its  execution  would  be  exceedingly  difficult,  so  that 
not  many  honorable  men  would  be  willing  to  take  the 
position  of  trustees  of  the  funds  which  such  a  measure 
would  remove  from  Mormon  hands.  The  difficulty  of 
separating  the  funds  unlawfully  gathered  by  the  Mormon 
Church  from  those  which  justly  belong  to  it  would  be 
very  great,  if  not  insuperable.  Hence  it  would  be  very 
hard  to  defend  such  a  measure  from  the  serious  charge 
of  arbitrary  interference  with  the  rights  of  property. 

It  cannot  be  defended  at  all,  unless  it  is  put  on  the 
ground  that  the  Mormon  people,  by  continued  hostility 
to  the  Government,  have  forfeited  all  political  rights  of 


84  THE   MORMON    PUZZLE. 

every  kind — even  the  right  of  property.  It  cannot  be 
defended  on  the  basis  of  justice  at  all.  It  looks  to  us  to 
be  a  proposed  theft  in  the  name  and  under  the  authority 
of  law. 

But,  as  has  been  said  before,  in  all  probability  if  this 
measure  should  become  a  law,  the  trustees  would  find  no 
funds  at  all  ;  for  they  could  easily  be  transferred  (nom- 
inally at  least)  to  private  parties. 

Just  here  let  me  say  that  the  people  should  be  on  their 
guard  as  to  what  they  believe  concerning  the  Mormons 
and  the  wealth  of  their  Church.  Charges  are  made  that 
have  no  foundation  whatever  in  truth,  and  small  and 
trivial  circumstances  are  so  exaggerated  and  warped  that 
they  appear  as  crooked  monstrosities,  and  are  presented 
to  the  world  as  common  Mormon  occurrences. 

A  great  deal  that  is  said  and  published  about  the  large 
amount  of  funds  in  the  hands  of  the  Mormon  leaders, 
and  the  use  to  which  they  are  put,  has  not  a  scintilla  of 
truth  in  it,  although  the  persons  who  publish  it  by  word 
or  pen,  being  misinformed,  thoroughly  believe  it  them- 
selves. Thus,  in  one  of  the  most  reliable  missionary 
magazines  in  our  land,  in  May,  1885,  it  was  stated  on 
the  best  authority  that  the  Mormons  had  a  large  corrup- 
tion fund,  and  as  a  sample  of  the  purposes  to  which  it 
is  put  by  them,  it  gave  the  following  instance  :  "  When 
Bancroft,  the  historian,  was  in  Utah  recently,  he  was 
told  that  if  he  would  write  certain  things  in  his  history 
of  Utah,  they  would  take  two  hundred  and  forty  com- 
plete sets  of  his  works,  which  would  give  him  $40,000." 

The  writer  determined  to  use  that  statement  as  a  test 
case.  He,  thinking  that  the  greatest  American  histo- 
rian, George  Bancroft,  was  referred  to,  sent  him  a  letter 
of  inquiry  as  to  the  truth  of  the  statement,  and  the  follow- 
ing was  his  reply  : 


THE   POLITICAL   PUZZLE.  85 

"  1623  H  STREET,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  February  3,  1886. 

"Reo.  It.   W.  Beers,  ElUon,  Md. 

"  SIR  :  Yours  of  February  2d  is  received.  I  am  as- 
tonished that  you  should  attribute  to  me  anything  so 
false  as  that  I  have  been  in  Utah,  and  all  that  follows. 
You  ought  not  to  have  needed  to  ask  anybody  about 
falsehoods  so  palpable. 

"  Yery  respectfully, 

"  GEORGE  BANCROFT." 

But  how  should  any  of  the  great  number  of  people 
throughout  our  land  who  read  the  missionary  magazine 
where  that  statement  occurred  know  that  he  had  not 
been  in  Utah,  and  that  the  statement  was  false  ? 

Then  the  writer,  knowing  of  another  great  historian 
Bancroft,  Mr.  H.  H.  Bancroft,  the  Pacific  coast  histo- 
rian, made  the  same  inquiry  of  him,  and  received  the 
following  reply  : 

' '  SAN  FBANCISCO,  February  15,  1886. 
"  Rev.  £.  W.  Beers. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR  :  In  answer  to  your  letter  of  the  8th 
inst.,  I  would  say  that  the  Mormons  never  asked  me  to 
insert  anything  in  my  history  of  Utah,  and  never  offered 
to  take  any  copies  of  the  work. 

"  Yery  respectfully, 

"H.  H.  BANCROFT." 

The  writer  then  directed  an  inquiry  to  the  person  in 
Salt  Lake  City  from  whom  the  statement  in  the  maga- 
zine claimed  to  have  been  made,  and  asked  him  his  au- 
thority for  his  statement.  The  answer  was  :  "  The 
Bancroft  alluded  to  by  me  is  H.  H.  Bancroft,  the 
Pacific  coast  historian.  His  agent  told  me  the  Mor- 


86  THE   MORMON   PUZZLE. 

mons  had  agreed  to  take  two  hundred  and  forty  sets  of 
his  complete  works  in  thirty-eight  volumes,  the  gross 
amount  of  which  (not  the  net  amount)  would  be  about 
$40,000,  if  he  would  publish  a  certain  kind  of  history 
of  Utah.  Since  Bancroft  is  a  millionaire,  the  Mormon 
offer  was  not  very  tempting." 

But  H.  H.  Bancroft  flatly  denies  that  any  such  offer 
was  made  him,  and  the  statement  must  clearly  be  pro- 
nounced untrue.  And  yet  the  person  who  made  the 
published  statement  was  one  of  the  leading  Christian 
men  of  Utah,  desirous  of  disseminating  nothing  but  the 
truth.  He  was  misinformed,  whether  intentionally  or 
not. 

There  is  a  deep-seated  prejudice  against  the  Mormons 
in  the  breasts  of  many  in  our  land,  which  gives  rise  to 
many  charges  against  them  which  have  no  basis  of  truth 
whatever.  We  must,  therefore,  be  on  our  guard,  and 
not  believe  quite  everything  that  is  published  against 
them.  Mr.  A.  M.  Gibson,  legal  adviser  of  the 
Mormon  people  at  the  national  capital,  says  that  the 
reputed  wealth  of  the  Mormon  Church  amounting  to 
millions  "  is  all  bosh  ;"  that  "  the  Incorporated  Church 
of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter-Day  Saints  is  actually  in  debt 
to-day,  and  is  a  borrower  of  money."  If  that  is  the  case, 
surely  if  the  trustees  were  appointed  according  to  the 
new  Edmunds  Bill,  they  wouldn't  have  many  funds  to 
handle. 

Another  measure  to  break  the  political  power  of  the 
priesthood  proposed  in  the  new  Edmunds  Bill  is  to  stop 
the  importing  of  converts  from  abroad  by  abolishing  the 
so-called  Perpetual  Emigrating  Fund  Company  and 
appropriating  its  surplus  property  to  educational  pur- 
poses. 

This  seems  to  me  to  have  not  a  scintilla  of  justice 


THE   POLITICAL   PUZZLE.  87 

about  it.  The  emigration  fund  was  originated  by  peo- 
ple who  had  been  assisted  to  emigrate  to  Utah,  dedicat- 
ing the  repayment  of  the  money  advanced  to  them  to 
assist  others  in  the  same  way.  It  was  an  entirely  volun- 
tary contribution.  I  cannot  see  what  right  the  United 
States  has  to  intervene  to  destroy  an  immigration  com- 
pany, if  it  is  legally  conducted,  simply  because  the  re- 
ligious sentiments  of  the  Mormons  are  obnoxious  to  the 
people  of  the  United  States.  If  anything  is  settled  in 
American  national  life,  it  is  that  no  man  shall  be  called 
to  account  for  his  religious  opinions.  And  so  this  pro- 
posed act  must  be  an  arbitrary  interference  with  the 
rights  of  property.  If  Congress  has  the  right  to  dissolve 
an  Emigrating  Company  and  use  its  surplus  property  for 
educational  purposes,  then  a  Socialistic  State  Legislature 
would  have  the  right  to  dissolve  a  railroad  corporation, 
pay  its  debts,  and  take  possession  of  its  surplus  for  the 
common  benefit ;  and  this,  surely,  is  a  socialistic  doctrine 
which  the  great  majority  of  the  American  people  are  not 
yet  prepared  to  accept. 

Besides,  it  would  be  ineffective.  The  attorney -general 
would  doubtless  find  no  funds  to  handle.  The  Mor- 
mons say  that  the  emigration  fund  practically  ceased 
to  exist  years  ago.  The  emigration  of  Mormons  now, 
they  say,  is  the  result  of  their  own  saving,  with  such  as- 
sistance as  their  friends  and  relatives  in  the  United 
States  give  them  ;  and  consequently,  although  the  Emi- 
gration Company  would  be  abolished,  missionaries  would 
continue  to  go  every  year  to  foreign  countries  and  land 
converts  by  the  thousands  upon  our  shores  and  take  them 
to  Utah  and  other  Territories  to  strengthen  the  power  of 
the  priesthood. 

Even  if  all  of  the  measures  mentioned  thus  far  as  con- 
tained in  the  new  Edmunds  Bill  were  enacted,  the  great 


88  THE   MORMON   PUZZLE. 

political  evil  now  in  Utah  would  remain.  The  Territory 
would  still  be  in  the  hands  of  the  Mormons,  and  conse- 
quently in  the  hands  of  the  priesthood. 

Another  radical  measure  has  been  proposed,  and  was 
strongly  advocated  by  ex-Governor  Murray  and  many 
leading  Gentiles  of  Salt  Lake  City,  and  was  recom- 
mended by  ex- President  Arthur.  The  measure  pro- 
posed is  the  abolition  of  all  Territorial  government  and 
the  instituting  of  a  government  ~by  a  Federal  Commis- 
sion, appointed  ~by  the  President,  of  nine  persons  resi- 
dent in  the  Territory. 

It  is  claimed  that,  if  this  commission  was  composed  of 
upright,  patriotic,  and  practical  men,  identified  as 
citizens  with  the  interests  of  the  Terr.tory,  they  would 
give  an  immense  impetus  to  business  of  all  kinds  and 
induce  enterprising  men  to  settle  there,  because  there 
would  then  be  an  assurance  that  Utah  was  to  be  in  truth 
an  American  territory. 

Now,  there  is  no  doubt  at  all  that  that  would  be  an 
effective  remedy  for  the  political  evil  in  Utah.  The  only 
questions  to  consider  are  :  Is  it  lawful  ?  Is  it  just  f 
Is  it  wise  ? 

Senator  Edmunds  has  declared  it  unconstitutional  ; 
and  although  there  are  precedents  in  its  favor,  yet  its 
constitutionality  may  well  be  questioned.  Certainly  the 
Territory  would  not  have  a  representative  form  of  gov- 
ernment under  a  Legislative  Commission.  The  govern- 
ment would  be  an  oligarchy. 

Besides,  not  all  the  residents  of  Utah  are  disloyal  in 
sentiment  and  feeling.  There  are  at  least  fifteen  thou- 
sand, and  probably  thirty  thousand,  loyal  citizens  ;  but  the 
proposed  plan  confuses  the  innocent  with  the  guilty,  and 
so  cannot  be  defended  from  the  standpoint  of  justice. 
ALL  are  disfranchised,  Mormons  and  Gentiles,  alike. 


THE   POLITICAL    PUZZLE.  89 

And,  then,  it  is  not  wise.  The  Mormons  in  all  like- 
lihood would  not  obey  the  local  laws  passed  by  such  a 
commission,  because  they  would  have  no  voice  in  their 
making.  They  would  not  regard  them  as  entitled  to  re- 
spect, and  there  would  as  a  result  be  more  internal  dis- 
order and  disquiet  than  there  is  now,  so  that  immigra- 
tion of  peaceable  citizens  would  be  checked  rather  than 
encouraged. 

Then,  it  lacks  wisdom  when  we  look  at  the  evil  to  be 
overcome.  The  political  evil  to  be  overcome  is  the  ex- 
istence of  a  non-republican  government  in  Utah.  The 
government  now  there,  though  republican  inform,  in 
substance  is  oligarchical,  the  real  rulers  being  the  trium- 
virate who  constitute  the  First  Presidency  of  the  Mor- 
mon Church.  The  problem  is,  how  to  remove  that  un- 
republican  oligarchy  and  set  up  a  republican  government 
there  as  elsewhere.  Now,  see  what  is  proposed  !  A 
legislative  commission  of  nine  appointed  by  the  Presi- 
dent!  Why,  the  present  government  there  is  more  re- 
publican than  that  proposed.  The  government  now  in 
existence  is  republican  in  form  at  least,  and  the  officers 
are  elected  by  the  majority  of  the  people  and  represent 
them  truly.  But  the  Legislative  Commission  would  be 
not  even  republican  in  form.  The  people  would  have 
nothing  whatever  to  do  with  their  appointment — not 
even  the  Gentiles.  That  government  would  be  thor- 
oughly undemocratic  both  in  form  and  substance  ;  and 
even  if  it  would  truly  represent  the  Gentile  population,  it 
would  only  represent  a  minority  of  citizens,  and  conse- 
quently would  be  undemocratic  ;  for  the  fundamental 
doctrine  of  democracy  is  that  the  majority  should  rule 
the  minority.  As  a  proper  substitute,  then,  for  the 
present  form  of  government  in  Utah,  the  Legislative 
Commission  must  be  regarded  as  strikingly  wanting.  It 


90  THE   MORMON    PUZZLE. 

does  not  solve  the  problem.  It  is  unwise,  inexpedient, 
and  unnecessary. 

Another  law,  which  is  far  more  just  than  the  preced- 
ing, has  been  proposed  recently  by  ex- Governor  Murray 
(in  his  last  official  report),  and  was  strongly  advocated  by 
Joseph  Cook  in  his  Boston  Monday  Lecture  delivered 
February  8th,  1886.  It  was  also  introduced  into  the 
House  of  Representatives  on  April  1st,  1886,  by  Mr. 
Wood  burn,  of  Nevada.  It  is  known  as  the  "  Idaho 
Statute,"  because  it  has  been  in  operation  in  the  Terri- 
tory of  Idaho.  It  disfranchises  every  man  and  woman 
who  believes,  teaches,  or  practices  bigamy  or  polygamy, 
or  who  belongs  to  any  organization  or  association  which 
believes,  teaches,  or  encourages  the  practice  of  bigamy  or 
polygamy,  and  renders  all  such  ineligible  to  any  office. 
That  law  would  only  disfranchise  the  Mormons,  the 
disloyal  element  in  the  Territory,  and  would  put  Utah 
in  the  hands  of  the  law-abiding  citizens  alone. 

But  it  is  open  to  the  grave  constitutional  objection  of 
interference  with  a  religious  belief.  Those  who  simply 
believe  in  polygamy  would  be  punished  by  this  enact- 
ment ;  but  our  Government,  whether  national  or  State, 
has  no  right  to  inquire  into  the  beliefs  of  our  citizens. 
It  is  only  when  they  carry  their  beliefs  into  actual  prac- 
tice of  that  which  is  contrary  to  the  laws  of  the  land  that 
our  Government  can  rightfully  punish  them  or  deprive 
them  of  civil  rights. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE   POLITICAL    PUZZLE    (concluded). 

Objections  to  proposed  remedies — Gladstone  on  "Coercion" — A 
NEW  PLAN  ADVOCATED — The  Abolition  of  Female  Suffrage — A  National 
Colonization  Scheme — Natural  resources  of  Utah — Superiority  of  the 
colonization  plan  over  others—  The  establishment  of  National  Free 
Schools— Ignorance  the  keystone  of  Mormon  despotism — Public 
schools  in  Utah  used  for  Mormon  purposes — Proposed  Federal 
Superintendent  of  schools  in  Utah — Territorial  schools  too  few — • 
Necessity  of  Government  action — Prejudice  disarmed  by  this  plan 
— THE  POLITICAL  PUZZLE  SOLVED. 

ALL  the  measures  that  have  yet  been  proposed  are  ac- 
knowledged to  be  unusual  and  extraordinary,  and  are 
advocated  only  on  the  ground  of  necessity,  which  Will- 
iam Pitt  called  u  the  argument  of  tyrants."  It  is  said 
that  the  facts  to  be  dealt  with  are  unprecedented.  An 
insolent  an ti- American  empire  has  for  years  been  grow- 
ing in  the  body  politic  of  this  country,  and  it  must  be 
overcome  at  all  hazards.  But  let  us  pause  a  moment. 
Is  not  that  the  great  doctrine  of  the  Jesuit — "  The  end 
justifies  the  means''1  f  That  is  an  exceedingly  dangerous 
doctrine  to  follow.  No,  fellow-Americans,  we  must 
not,  we  dare  not,  allow  our  righteous,  passionate  fervor 
against  Mormon  disloyalty  to  carry  ns  so  far  as  to  violate 
fundamental  principles  of  the  American  Constitution. 
Whatever  we  do,  we  must  cling  to  the  traditions  of  the 
past,  and  not  depart  from  the  spirit  of  our  cherished 
American  principles. 

Besides,  all  of  these  measures  are  open  to  the  objection 


92  THE   MORMON    PUZZLE. 

of  persecution  from  a  Mormon  point  of  view.  Threats 
of  bloody  resistance,  especially  to  a  Legislative  Commis- 
sion, have  been  made  by  Mormons  even  of  quiet  dispo- 
sition. Now,  if  the  evil  can  in  any  way  be  overcome 
without  persecution,  that  way  is  by  all  means  to  be 
preferred. 

Utah  may  well  be  called  ' c  The  American  Ireland. ' ' 
Ireland  is  practically  in  rebellion  against  the  Government 
of  Great  Britain,  and  she  bases  her  rebellion  on  wrongs 
and  abuses.  Utah  is  in  practical  rebellion  against  our 
Government,  and  bases  her  disloyalty  on  the  ground  of 
injustice  and  abuse.  Coercive  measures  have  long  been 
tried  with  Ireland  and  have  been  of  no  avail ;  and  now 
Gladstone,  the  greatest  living  statesman,  advocates  pa- 
cific measures.  When  he  introduced  his  Irish  Home 
Rule  measure  into  the  House  of  Commons  on  the  8th  of 
April,  1886,  the  most  memorable  day  in  the  history  of 
modern  English  Parliaments,  in  his  great  speech  (con- 
fessedly one  of  the  greatest  efforts  of  his  life)  he  said  : 
"  Coercion,  unless  stern  and  unbending,  and  under  an 
autocratic  government,  must  always  fail.  Such  coercion 
England  should  never  resort  to  until  every  other  means 
lias  failed.  The  basis  of  the  whole  mischief  is  the  fact 
that  the  law  is  discredited  in  Ireland.  It  comes  to  the 
Irish  people  with  a  foreign  aspect."  So  we  have  tried 
prohibitory  and  repressive  methods  with  the  Mormons 
for  thirty  years,  and  they  have  failed.  They  will  fail 
to  the  bitter  end.  The  longer  they  are  tried,  the  worse 
the  result.  They  will  only  increase  their  enmity  to  the 
Government,  heal  over  their  internal  dissensions,  bind 
them  the  closer  together,  arid  wed  them  more  firmly  to 
their  peculiar  beliefs,  which  have  made  them  objects  of 
persecution.  History  can  teach  us  that ;  and  so  we  be- 
lieve that  it  is  time  to  inaugurate  a  change — viz.,  to 


THE   POLITICAL   PUZZLE.  93 

work  on  the  Christian  plan,  to  overcome  evil  with 
good. 

The  plan  which  I  have  to  propose  to  overcome  the  ex- 
isting political  evil  in  Utah  and  bring  it  into  thorough 
harmony  with  our  American  institutions  has  the  merit 
of  being  in  strict  accordance  with  Christian  principles 
and  with  American  principles,  besides  being,  I  think, 
the  most  effective  plan  in  the  end  that  could  be  proposed. 

It  involves  THREE  MEASURES,  although  the  first  is  not 
absolutely  essential  and  is  advocated  solely  because  it 
would  greatly  hasten  the  time  when  Utah  would  be  re- 
deemed— i.e.,  the  time  when  the  majority  of  the  voting 
population  of  Utah  would  be  law-abiding  citizens. 

I.  THE  ABOLITION  OF  FEMALE  SUFFRAGE  in  that  Ter- 
ritory. This  is  one  of  the  good  measures  of  the  new 
Edmunds  law.  I  believe  in  female  suffrage  as  a  gen- 
eral principle  ;  but  I  am  opposed  to  it  in  Utah,  as  society 
exists  there  at  present. 

We  acknowledge  that  this  measure  may  from  one 
standpoint  be  regarded  as  unjust.  It  may  be  said  that 
it  is  unjust  to  punish  the  women  by  disfranchisement, 
and  let  the  men  go  free,  especially  as  they  are  far  more 
guilty. 

But,  in  reply,  we  say  that  there  is  no  particular  rea- 
son or  justice  in  allowing  the  confessedly  ignorant  and 
enslaved  women  of  Utah  to  vote,  while  the  highly  in- 
telligent women  of  Massachusetts  and  New  York  are 
not  allowed  to  vote.  Until  there  is  a  Constitutional 
Amendment  granting  female  suffrage  throughout  the 
United  States,  no  American  principle  is  violated  by  the 
disfranchisement  of  the  Utah  women ;  while  the  dis- 
franchisement of  the  Mormon  men,  who  simply  believe 
in  polygamy,  would  be  in  violation  of  a  fundamental 
principle  of  our  Constitution. 


04  THE   MORMON    PUZZLE. 

Then,  too,  it  could  not  be  regarded  as  a  persecuting 
measure,  for  the  Gentile  women  would  be  in  the  same 
category  with  the  Mormon  women. 

Besides,  one  of  the  main  reasons  why  we  believe 
women  should  be  allowed  the  franchise  is  that  it  would 
show  a  proper  appreciation  of  their  intellectual  and 
moral  worth  ;  but  in  a  Territory  where  the  state  of 
society  is  such  as  it  is  in  Utah,  where  polygamy  is  pro- 
claimed to  be  divine,  and  where  there  are  no  laws 
against  bigamy,  adultery,  and  kindred  crimes,  there  can 
be  no  just  appreciation  of  woman.  Female  suffrage 
under  such  conditions  is  a  mockery  and  a  delusion. 
Hence  we  advocate  its  abolition. 

Now,  see  what  would  be  accomplished  by  this  meas- 
ure, which  is  in  thorough  harmony  with  American 
principles  !  The  Mormon  vote  in  1882  was  23,251  out 
of  a  total  vote  of  28,159.  Of  this  vote,  basing  the  esti- 
mate upon  the  number  registering,  the  female  voters 
were  slightly  in  excess  of  one  half  of  the  entire  number 
of  Mormon  suffragists.  The  disf ranchisement  of  women 
would,  therefore,  reduce  the  total  Mormon  vote  at  least 
one  half.  The  non-Mormon  vote  is  now  equal  to  con- 
siderably more  than  one  fourth  of  the  whole  number  of 
Mormon  males  of  voting  age.  Consequently,  with  the 
disf  ranchisement  of  polygamists  which  has  been  accom- 
plished, the  non-Mormon  vote  would  be  nearly  one  third 
of  the  legitimate  Territorial  vote  ;  and  so  by  the  aboli- 
tion of  female  suffrage  the  problem  would  be  reduced  to 
this  :  How  can  the  proportion  of  the  non -Mormon  vote 
be  increased  from  one  third  of  the  total  vote  to  a  little 
more  than  one  half  ?  The  answer  to  that  question  will 
obviously  lead  to  the  ultimate  solution  of  this  great 
Political  Puzzle.  This  leads  to  the  second  feature  of 
our  plan. 


THE   POLITICAL   PUZZLE.  95 

II.  A  NATIONAL  COLONIZATION  SCHEME,  by  which  large 
numbers  of  law-abiding  citizens  who  are  non-Mormons 
will  be  induced  to  settle  in  Utah  at  once. 

This  is  the  chief  feature  of  our  plan,  and  it  seems  to 
us  the  surest  and  speediest  way  to  overthrow  Mormon - 
ism,  besides  being  a  peaceable  and  Christian  way.  It 
is  not  a  Utopian  plan  either,  but  one  that  is  entirely 
feasible. 

The  material  resources  of  the  Territory  are  vast  and 
varied.  Its  agricultural  area  is  extensive  and  fertile, 
and  parts  of  it  are  well  timbered  and  watered.  Within 
its  ample  borders  abound  mines  of  the  useful  and  pre- 
cious metals,  as  well  as  of  coal  and  other  minerals.  It 
has  more  forests  than  Nebraska.  It  is  true  that  irriga- 
tion is  in  some  degree  essential  to  successful  agriculture, 
but  Utah  is  not  by  any  means  the  barren  region  it  has 
often  been  represented  to  be.  Most  people  think  of  it  as 
a  desert — a  dry  land,  where  no  great  multitude  of  human 
beings  can  ever  find  a  prosperous  home.  But  it  has 
well  been  called  the  American'  Syria.  Only  let  the  soil 
have  due  irrigation,  and  it  needs  only  to  be  tickled  with 
the  hoe,  as  the  proverb  says,  in  order  to  laugh  into  har- 
vests. You  may  say  the  sage- bush,  which  is  seen  there 
in  large  quantities,  is  a  mark  of  desolation  ;  but  irrigate 
the  pastures  covered  with  it,  and  you  have  bountiful  har- 
vests. As  in  Syria,  when  you  irrigate  the  Jericho  Plain 
you  have  most  vigorous  growths,  and  as  on  the  plain  of 
Gennesaret  there  were  originally  growths  similar  to  the 
vegetation  on  the  borders  of  the  Nile,  so  to-day  irriga- 
tion gives  extraordinary  fruitfulness  to  the  cultivated 
lands  of  Utah. 

It  is  true  that  the  Mormon  settlements  extend  to  the 
full  limits  of  the  Territory  in  every  direction,  following 
the  natural  sweep  of  the  valleys  at  the  base  of  the  moun- 


96  THE   MORMOtf    PUZZLE. 

tains  from  north  to  south.  It  was  Brigham  Young's 
policy  to  occupy  the  best  laud  as  quickly  as  possible, 
but  only  about  500,000  acres  have  yet  been  occupied ; 
and  estimating  that  there  are  2,000,000  acres,  or  the  one 
twenty-seventh  part  of  the  territory,  susceptible  of  culti- 
vation (and  this  is  a  small  estimate),  there  yet  remain 
1,500,000  acres  unappropriated  for  future  settlement. 
And  so,  notwithstanding  the  pre-emption  of  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  best  arable  lands  of  the  Territory  by  the  Mor- 
mons, there  is  yet  a  large  and  fertile  acreage  open  for 
settlement.  To  ensure  the  occupancy  of  these  wide 
and  inviting  fields  by  thrifty,  sturdy  settlers  opposed  to 
the  disloyal  and  unlawful  tenets  of  Morrnonism,  the  laws 
relating  to  land-grants  might  be  so  amended  as  to  pre- 
vent sales  to  those  who  are  not  prepared  to  prove  their 
intention  to  become  without  reserve  supporters  of  law 
and  order. 

But  besides  the  agricultural  resources,  the  mineral  re- 
sources are  also  great.  Whole  tiers  of  counties  are  un- 
derlaid with  coal,  and  the  mountain  ranges  are  impreg- 
nated in  all  their  rifts  with  iron  and  lead,  silver  and 
gold.  Until  the  completion  of  the  Union  Pacific  Rail- 
road the  vast  mineral  wealth  of  Utah  was  untouched,  the 
Mormon  leaders  being  utterly  opposed  to  exploiting  the 
mines,  knowing  that  their  development  would  bring  in 
a  non-Mormon  population  ;  but  since  the  building  of 
the  Union  Pacific  and  the  extension  branches  north  and 
south,  Utah  has  produced  $50,000,000  in  silver  and 
lead,  and  its  other  mineral  wealth,  except  coal  and  salt,  is 
yet  undeveloped.  Ex- Governor  Murray,  in  his  report  for 
1880,  said  :  "  I  know  of  no  fact  why  it  may  not  reason- 
ably be  claimed  that  Utah  will  prove  the  richest  reposi- 
tory of  silver,  gold,  coal,  lead,  and  other  minerals,  of 
all  the  States  and  Territories  of  the  West.  Certainly  no 


THE   POLITICAL   PUZZLE.  97 

four  hundred  miles  of  mountain  ranges  have  produced 
as  many  mines  of  immense  yields  and  so  many  mining 
prospects  as  the  suggestions  of  science  and  practical  ob- 
servation make  those  of  Utah  appear.  Many  mining 
districts  heretofore  inaccessible  are  now  in  close  connec- 
tion by  railroads  with  the  markets.  Much  of  the  ore, 
on  account  of  its  low  grade,  has  not  heretofore  paid  to 
mine  ;  but  which  now,  on  account  of  superior  methods 
in  extracting  and  reducing  the  ore,  is  made  profitable. 
As  a  rule,  the  men  who  own  the  best  prospects  are  not 
able  to  develop  them  for  lack  of  means.  Capital  is 
needed,  and  with  anything  like  reasonable  business  judg- 
ment can  be  made  to  realize  most  gratifying  results." 

Now,  with  such  natural  resources,  what  might  not  Utah 
become  ?  It  is  better  adapted  for  general  settlement 
than  Nevada,  and  quite  as  good  as  Colorado,  Arizona,  or 
New  Mexico.  If  its  character  and  resources  were  fully 
and  fairly  set  forth,  it  would  present  an  attractive  field 
to  the  hardy  and  adventurous  emigrant.  Rev.  Dr. 
McNiece,  of  Salt  Lake  City,  in  a  letter  received  from 
him  February  19th,  1886,  says  :  "  This  is  one  of  the 
grandest  and  richest  of  all  the  Territories."  Why  not, 
then,  encourage  emigration  thither  of  the  right  class  ? 

The  Government  might  do  much  in  this  direction  by 
offering  special  inducements  in  the  acquisition  of  lands, 
as  it  did  notably  in  the  case  of  Oregon.  Aid  Societies, 
•too,  might  be  formed  in  the  several  States,  as  was  done  in 
the  case  of  Kansas,  when  it  was  thought  necessary  to  res- 
cue that  Territory  from  the  grasp  of  the  slave  power. 

There  is  already  quite  a  large  and  powerful  "  Gen- 
tile "  element  in  Utah,  which  has  for  years  been  strug- 
gling against  Mormonism.  They  are  faithful  to  the 
Government,  and  are  generally  enterprising,  intelligent, 
and  brave.  Let  their  hands  be  strengthened.  They 


98  THE   MORMON    PUZZLE. 

would  gladly  welcome  large  accessions  to  their  numbers 
and  give  to  anti-  Mormon  settlers  all  the  aid  in  their 
power  in  making  favorable  locations. 

The  work  of  colonization  should  be  begun  at  once  and 
upon  as  large  a  scale  as  possible  ;  and  as  the  result  of 
inducements  and  restrictions  such  as  have  been  men- 
tioned, it  is  safe  to  say  that  in  a  brief  time  the  popula- 
tion of  Utah  would  be  surrounded  with  a  battery  of 
influences  whose  electric  currents  would  act  with  irresist- 
ible force  in  hastening  the  establishment  of  a  normal 
condition  of  things. 

It  is  true  that  this  plan  would  not  immediately  deprive 
the  Mormons  of  control  in  the  Legislature,  but  its  effect 
would  be  to  gradually  introduce  into  it  an  element  which 
would  speedily  make  its  power  felt ;  which  would  afford 
active  support  to  the  governor  and  his  assistants  ;  and 
whoso  influence  would  soon  divide  the  already  dissen- 
tient Mormon  elements,  in  so  far  as  wise  legislation  is 
concerned,  by  winning  the  co-operation  of  the  Radical 
Mormon  Party,  who  are  opposed  to  the  union  of  Church 
and  State  ;  and  so  it  is  admirably  adapted  to  break  up 
the  power  of  the  disloyal  hierarchy.  A  wide  discretion 
left  in  the  hands  of  the  governor  as  to  the.  use  of  the  veto 
power  (although  absolute  veto  power  is  a  dangerous  power 
to  be  vested  in  any  man  under  a  Republican  Govern- 
ment), and  the  appointment  to  that  position  of  a  man  of 
integrity  and  wisdom,  would  put  it  in  the  power  of  the 
Executive  to  defeat  any  attempt  at  improper  legislation  ; 
while  in  a  few  years  the  majority  of  the  voters  of  Utah 
would  be  loyal,  law-abiding  citizens,  and  the  legislative 
power  would  pass  into  hands  perfectly  safe. 

This  plan  is  entirely  practicable,  and  is  offered  in  the 
assured  conviction  that  it  presents  the  surest,  speediest, 
and  most  peaceable  method  of  solving  the  Mormon  politi- 


THE    POLITICAL   PUZZLE.  99 

cal  puzzle.  It  does  not  transgress  any  American  princi- 
ple. It  is  not  in  any  way  unjust.  And,  surely,  such  a 
plan  is  far  preferable  to*  that  of  a  wholesale  disfranchise- 
ment  of  the  loyal  as  well  as  the  disloyal,  not  only  as 
being  more  republican,  but  as  being  less  likely  to  involve 
the  Government  in  a  long  and  bitter  quarrel  with  a 
fanatic  population.  It  does  not  take  away  any  right 
(either  the  right  of  franchise  or  of  property)  from  the 
Mormon  people,  who  are  now  the  majority  of  the  citizens 
of  the  Territory.  It  could  not,  therefore,  be  regarded 
by  them  as  an  act  of  persecution.  Hence  it  would  not 
inflame  their  fanaticism  nor  increase  their  hostility  to 
the  Government  ;  but  it  would  tend  to  disarm  their 
prejudice  and  animosity,  for  this  plan  would  subserve 
their  material  interests  by  greatly  increasing  the  value  of 
their  property.  And  while  I  do  not  think  it  would  be 
the  part  of  wisdom  to  admit  Utah  into  the  sisterhood  of 
States  until  the  majority  of  the  voters  are  anti-Mormon, 
still  I  verily  believe  that  by  this  plan,  some  time  before 
that  object  would  be  obtained,  many  of  the  Mormons 
themselves  would  be  on  the  side  of  the  Government  and 
would  defy  the  political  dictation  of  the  priesthood. 
They  could  not  mingle  freely  with  a  freedom-loving 
American  people,  such  as  this  plan  would  surround  them 
with,  without  very  soon  becoming  imbued  with  some  of 
their  spirit  of  independence  ;  and  this  would  ultimately 
result  in  their  breaking  from  the  despotism  of  their  ec- 
clesiastical rulers. 

But,  as  another  step  toward  disarming  the  prejudice  of 
the  Mormons  against  the  Government  and  breaking  up 
the  political  despotism  of  the  Mormon  hierarchy  for  all 
time  to  come,  we  propose  as 

III.  The  third  and  last  measure  of  our  plan,  THE 
ESTABLISHMENT  OF  NATIONAL  FREE  SCHOOLS  all  over  the 


100  THE   MORMON    PUZZLE. 

Territory.  Edward  Everett  Hale  lias  said  that  America 
is  to  stand  or  fall  according  as  she  does  or  does  not  edu- 
cate the  South  and  South-west.  Until  the  mass  of  illit- 
eracy is  greatly  diminished  in  the  Gulf  States,  and  along 
the  Mexican  border  (including  all  the  territory  acquired 
from  Mexico),  great  trouble  may  arise  at  any  time  in  the 
United  States,  from  the  collision  of  the  uneducated  por- 
tions with  the  educated.  In  view  of  that  fact,  Wendell 
Phillips  once  said  that  no  thoughtful  man  could  feel  sure 
that  one  flag  would  rule  this  belt  of  the  American  Conti- 
nent fifty  years  hence. 

The  education  of  the  South  and  the  South-west  is  the 
great  task  of  the  statesmanship  of  to-day.  There  are  a 
hundred  million  dollars  lying  in  our  National  Treasury, 
and  we  do  not  know  what  to  do  with  it.  The  nation 
should  take  some  of  it  and  undertake  the  work  of  public 
education  in  the  Territories  ;  for  while  there  is  some  ob- 
jection to  national  aid  to  education  in  the  States,  as  a 
needless  interference  with  State  rights,  yet  there  is  no 
doubt  as  to  the  right  of  the  National  Government  to  ap- 
propriate money  for  educational  purposes  in  the  Terri- 
tories, since  they  are  under  its  immediate  control.  The 
Government  should  begin  educational  work  in  all  the 
Territories  at  once,  and  push  it  vigorously.  Its  future 
safety  and  welfare  demand  it. 

But  especially  is  that  necessary  with  regard  to  Utah. 
The  despotism  of  the  Mormon  hierarchy  has  for  its  key- 
stone the  superstition  and  ignorance  of  the  people.  If 
the  Government  would  put  a  public  school  in  every 
school  district  in  Utah,  it  would  undermine  that  despot- 
ism quicker  than  anything  else.  Give  the  Mormons 
light  and  education,  and  they  will  burst  the  bonds  of 
their  thraldom.  The  Mormon  priesthood,  well  aware 
of  this,  take  great  pains  to  keep  the  people  unschooled. 


THE    POLITICAL   PUZZLE.  101 

The  public  schools  of  the  Territory  are  entirely  in  the 
hands  of  the  priesthood,  and,  as  a  general  rale,  only  Mor- 
mons are  allowed  to  be  teachers.  They  are  scarcely 
worthy  the  name  of  schools  ;  but,  more  than  that,  in 
violation  of  a  fundamental  principle  of  our  Government, 
they  are  used  for  the  propagation  of  religious  tenets,  and 
accordingly  they  become  the  means  of  instilling  disloyal 
sentiments  into  the  minds  of  the  rising  generation. 

If  Utah  is  to  be  thoroughly  redeemed,  it  must  be 
through  proper  influences  brought  to  bear  upon  the  Mor- 
mon youth  of  to-day  ;  but  the  only  loyal  schools  at 
present  in  Utah  are  those  conducted  by  the  Christian 
churches,  which  are  far  from  sufficient  in  number.  It 
therefore  becomes  the  duty  of  the  National  Government 
to  provide  a  loyal  system  of  public  instruction  for  Utah. 

This  could  be  accomplished  only  partially  by  making 
the  Superintendent  of  Public  Schools  a  Federal  officer, 
as  Senator  Edmunds  proposes  in  his  new  bill.  The  ad- 
ministration of  such  an  officer,  if  he  be  properly  quali- 
fied, and  if  he  be  supported  by  provision  for  the  with- 
holding of  public  funds  from  schools  which  instruct  in 
matters  of  religion,  and  have  also  the  power  of  vetoing 
the  appointment  of  improper  teachers,  would  so  change 
the  character  of  the  schools  of  Utah  as  to  make  them 
efficient  means  for  breaking  down  the  disloyalty  of  the 
Mormons,  instead  of  being,  as  they  now  are,  a  potent 
means  for  the  propagation  of  Mormonism.  But  that  is 
not  all  that  is  required. 

The  territorial  schools  now  established  are  far  too  few 
to  accomplish  the  desired  end.  The  National  Govern- 
ment should  make  an  ample  appropriation.  It  ought 
to  put  a  public  school  in  every  city  ward  and  every 
considerable  village.  It  ought  to  equip  them  with  the 
best  appliances  and  the  best  teachers.  It  ought  to  fling 


102  THE    MORMON"    PUZZLE. 

their  doors  wide  open  to  every  comer.  It  ought  not  to 
teach  any  religion,  Mormon  or  Gentile  ;  it  need  not  ; 
but  it  ought  to  inculcate  principles  of  patriotism  and 
loyalty,  and  ought  to  teach  the  pupils  to  think  and  ques- 
tion for  themselves.  The  parental  instinct  is  stronger 
than  a  hierarchy.  The  appetite  for  knowledge  is  in- 
vincible, even  by  superstition.  It  would  not  be  neces- 
sary to  establish  a  compulsory  system.  It  would  be 
enough  to  establish  a  free  system.  The  schools 
established  by  the  different  Christian  denominations 
have  proved  that.  Their  Gentile  schools  are  filled.  The 
nation's  schools  would  be  crowded. 

This  would  also  go  a  great  way  toward  disarming  the 
prejudice  and  hostility  of  the  older  Mormons  toward  the 
Government.  A  great  many  of  them  are  immigrants 
from  other  countries,  who  on  landing  in  America  were 
immediately  taken  to  Utah  ;  consequently  the  Mormon 
immigrant  has  known  the  United  States  only  as  an 
enemy.  It  is  time  that  we  taught  him  that  the  United 
States  is  his  friend  /  and  in  what  better  way  could  this 
be  done  than  by  establishing  well -equipped  schools  for 
his  children  ?  This  would  show  that  the  Government 
had  the  interests  of  his  family  at  heart.  And  we  all 
know  that  there  is  nothing  which  will  so  soon  touch  the 
heart  of  a  mother  and  father,  too,  as  a  kindness  done  to 
his  child.  Whatever  prejudice  or  hatred  there  might 
have  been  before  toward  that  person,  after  the  kindness 
has  been  done  to  his  child  the  prejudice  departs  and  he 
treats  him  as  a  friend.  So  would  it  be  if  the  Govern- 
ment would  establish  national  schools  of  the  best  type  in 
Utah.  Many  who  are  now  its  enemies  would  be  its 
friends.  Yes,  put  liberty  and  education  in  that  Terri- 
tory in  the  manner  suggested,  and  liberty  and  education 
will  solve  the  Mormon  political  puzzle.  "  We  can  let  the 


THE   POLITICAL   PUZZLE.  103 

Mormons  bring  over  their  shiploads  of  immigrants  un- 
hindered by  us,  so  long  as  they  bring  them  to  a  com- 
munity made  free  and  enlightened.  We  can  let  them 
build  their  temple,  so  long  as  we  overtop  it  with  the 
school-house  and  the  college.  We  can  let  them  preach 
their  superstitious  liberalism,  if  we  invite  the  ready 
minds  of  the  oncoming  generation  to  demand  rebelliously 
a  reason  for  the  faith  and  the  fear  that  are  preached  to 
them."  Let  the  Government  only  grant  a  half  million 
of  dollars,  and  school-houses  can  be  built  and  equipped 
everywhere.  And  to  what  better  use  could  the  money 
be  put  ?  It  will  not  cost  as  much  to  buy  books  and  pay 
the  salaries  of  competent  teachers  as  it  would  to  dig 
graves  in  a  war  of  extermination,  and  a  far  better  result 
would  be  effected,  with  no  blood  spilled  and  no  tears 
shed  except  tears  of  gratitude  ;  for  instead  of  heaps  of 
men  and  women  unnecessarily  slaughtered,  we  would 
have  A  REDEEMED  PEOPLE — redeemed  from  slavery  to  lib- 
erty, redeemed  from  disloyalty  to  loyalty. 

We  are  firmly  convinced  that,  if  this  plan  were 
faithfully  carried  out  in  all  its  parts,  less  than  twenty 
years  would  see  Utah,  with  her  rich  harvests  and  vast 
mineral  wealth  being  developed,  and  her  million  or  more 
of  people,  shining  forth  as  a  bright  star  in  the  galaxy  of 
American  States,  her  people  as  loyal  as  those  of  Massa- 
chusetts or  Connecticut — loyal  to  the  very  core ;  and 
where  now  the  Stars  and  Stripes  are  cursed,  trampled 
under  foot,  and  placed  at  half-mast,  they  would  then  be 
greeted  with  loudest  cheers. 


PART  in. 

THE    SOCIAL    PUZZLE. 


11  PEOCLAIM  liberty  throughout  all  the  land  unto  all  the  inhabitants 
thereof." — INSCRIPTION  ON  THE  OLD  LIBERTY  BELL. 

"THE  strength,  the  perpetuity,  and  the  destiny  of  the  nation,  rest 
upon  our  homes." — PRESIDENT  CLEVELAND. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

• 

Polygamy  only  one  of  the  Mormon  social  evils — Their  social  system 
a  system  of  bondage— Contrary  to  natural  law — Contrary  to  the 
spirit  of  the  age — PERSONAL  BONDAGE  of  the  Mormons — Mission- 
aries must  go  on  duty — Dictation  of  the  priesthood  with  regard  to 
boarders  and  rents  —Immigrants  under  their  control — All  members 
subject  to  Church  orders — Power  of  the  Church  over  daily  business 
—Mormon  mining  contractors— MENTAL  BONDAGE  of  the  Mormons 
— Converts  illiterate— The  Mormon  Church  the  opponent  of  free 
education— No  independent  thought— Excommunication  of  Henry 
Lawrence  and  others. 

IF  nine  tenths  of  the  people  of  our  land  were  asked  to 
denominate  Mormonism  as  a  social  system,  the  answer 
that  would  be  given  by  unanimous  consent  would  be 
this  :  "  It  is  a  system  of  polygamy."  And  yet,  after  a 
careful  study  of  the  social  condition  existing  among  the 
Mormons,  it  is  evident  that  polygamy  is  only  one  of  the 
social  evils — one  of  several  branches  from  one  parent 
stock,  and  therefore  cannot  be  said  to  be  descriptive  of 
their  whole  social  system. 

One  of  the  great  political  parties  of  our  country  has 
denounced  slavery  and  polygamy  as  "  twin  relics  of  bar- 
barism ;"  and  that  is  undoubtedly  true.  But  with  re- 
gard to  Mormon  polygamy,  it  will  be  seen  that  slavey 
and  polygamy  do  not  occupy  with  reference  to  each 
other  the  relation  of  twin  sisters,  but  rather  the  relation 
of  mother  and  daughter,  Slavery  is  the  mother  of  Mor- 
mon polygamy  and  of  all  the  other  social  evils  of  the  so- 
called  Latter-Day  Saints  ;  and  therefore  the  proper  de- 
nomination of  Mormonism  as  a  social  system  would  be 

a  SYSTEM  OF  BONDAGE. 


108  THE   MORMON"   PUZZLE. 

It  is  consequently  a  system  contrary  to  natural  law  as 
well  as  to  the  Christian  conscience.  According  to  Rous- 
seau, the  great  French  philosopher,  man  is  a  being  by 
nature  loving  justice  and  order.  In  his  opinion,  in  an 
ideal  state  of  society  each  member  would  be  free  and  the 
equal  of  every  other — equal  because  no  person  or  family 
or  class  would  seek  for  any  rights  or  privileges  of  which 
any  other  was  deprived  ;  saidfree  because  each  one  would 
have  his  share  in  determining  the  rule  common  to  all. 
It  was  these  doctrines,  taking  root  in  the  minds  and  con- 
victions of  men,  that  gave  us  our  modern  state  of  soci- 
ety, and  that  gave  us  our  Nation,  with  its  free  thought, 
free  speech,  free  press,  and  free  institutions.  The  first 
public  official  document  in  which  these  opinions  were 
clearly  set  forth  was  our  "  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence," which  proclaimed  that  all  men  are  "  equal"  and 
that  u  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain 
inalienable  rights,  among  which  are  life,  liberty,  and  the 
pursuit  of  happiness." 

The  same  views  also  formed  the  element  of  strength 
in  the  French  Revolution.  The  first  article  of  the 
"  Declaration  of  the  Rights  of  Man  and  of  the  Citizen," 
adopted  in  1789,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution,  as- 
serts :  "  Men  are  born  free  and  equal,  and  have  the  same 
rights." 

Indeed,  these  doctrines  have  been  the  source  of  all  the 
social  reforms  of  the  past  century.  They  are  the  guid- 
ing-star of  modern  civilization.  They  are  the  basis,  not 
only  of  our  Government,  but  also  of  our  social  system, 
which  is  one  of  liberty  and  equal  rights.  They  are  the 
spring  of  all  noble  thoughts  given  forth  to  the  world  and 
all  the  splendid  achievements.  To  be  majestic  and  en- 
nobling, thought  must  be  unrestrained  ;  to  be  praise- 
worthy, deeds  must  be  uncontrolled. 


THE   SOCIAL    PUZZLE.  109 

In  England  the  dominant  party  at  present  (June, 
1886)  is  the  Liberal  Party,  whose  able  leader  is  that 
"  Grand  Old  Man,"  William  E.  Gladstone.  Last  fall, 
just  before  their  great  election,  that  party  issued  a  mani- 
festo of  a  very  unusual  character.  It  took  the  shape  of 
a  book  entitled  "  Why  am  I  a  Liberal  ?"  and  contained 
definitions  and  confessions  of  political  faith  by  the  fore- 
most leaders  of  the  party.  Among  them  Robert  Brown- 
ing answered  the  question  in  this  characteristic  sonnet  : 

"  Why  ?     Because  all  I  haply  can  and  do, 
All  that  I  am  now,  all  I  hope  to  be, 
Whence  comes  it,  save  from  fortune  setting  free 
Body  and  soul,  the  purpose  to  pursue 
God-traced  for  both  ?     Of  fetters  not  a  few, 
Of  prejudice,  convention,  fall  from  me. 
These  shall  I  bid  men,  each  in  his  degree 
Also  God-guided,  bear,  and  gayly  too  ? 

"  But  little  do  or  can  the  best  of  us  ; 
That  Utlle  is  achieved  through  liberty. 
Who  then  dares  hold,  emancipated  thus, 
His  fellow  shall  continue  bound  ?     Not  I, 
Who  live,  love,  labor  freely,  nor  discuss 
A  brother's  right  to  freedom.    That  is  why." 

Those  are  noble  words,  worthy  a  noble  poet.  If  he  had 
given  no  other  poern  to  the  world,  that  would  place  him 
on  the  list  of  poets  to  be  remembered  by  future  genera- 
tions, who  are  destined  to  be,  if  possible,  freer  than  we. 
It  is  true,  as  Browning  says,  that  liberty  is  the  source  of 
all  achievements  worthy  the  name.  Horace  Mann  once 
said  :  "  Enslave  a  man  and  you  destroy  his  ambition,  his 
enterprise,  his  capacity.  In  the  constitution  of  human 
nature,  the  desire  of  bettering  one's  condition  is  the 
mainspring  of  effort.  The  first  touch  of  slavery  snaps 
this  spring." 

Since,  therefore,  this  century  is  the  century  of  prog- 


110  THE    MORMON    PUZZLE. 

ress,  of  grand  and  noble  achievements,  LIBERTY  is  pre- 
eminently its  watchword,  the  ruling  spirit  of  the  age. 
The  abolition  of  the  negro-slave  traffic,  the  progressive 
obliteration  of  class  distinctions  and  race  distinctions  in 
law,  the  liberty  of  combination  among  laborers,  the  ex- 
tension of  the  franchise,  the  limitations  of  the  powers  of 
riches — in  a  word,  all  our  modern  popular  movements 
are  only  recognitions  of  the  principle  that  each  individ- 
ual man  is  born  with  the  right  to  regulate  his  conduct 
and  pursue  his  ends  in  his  own  way,  provided  that  he 
does  not  abridge  the  equal  rights  of  his  fellow-men.  The 
principle  of  individual  liberty  has  been  the  underlying 
principle  of  the  social  policy  of  the  past  hundred  years. 

But  to  this  principle  Mormonism  is  in  the  most  bitter 
antagonism.  It  is  true  that  it  does  not  antagonize  it 
openly.  If  it  did,  it  would  thereby  strike  its  own  death- 
blow. It  claims  to  be  in  harmony  with  the  spirit  of 
freedom,  and  the  official  Church  organ,  the  Deseret 
News,  has  for  its  motto,  printed  in  large  letters  on  its 
title-page,  "  Truth  and  Liberty."  Nevertheless,  it 
tramples  all  freedom  under  foot.  Its  spirit  is  TYRANNY. 
A  greater  despotism  the  world,  perhaps,  has  never  seen. 
That  of  the  Persian  king  in  ancient  times,  and  that  of 
the  Czar  of  all  the  Russias  over  his  serfs  in  more  modern 
times,  pale  in  comparison  with  the  absolute  despotism  of 
the  Mormon  chieftain  and  his  two  councillors.  The 
condition  of  society  in  Mormondom  is  that  of  bondage, 
utter  and  entire.  The  constituent  elements  of  man  are 
body,  soul,  and  spirit  ;  and  these  are  all  in  slavery  under 
the  social  system  of  the  Mormons. 

Let  us,  therefore,  consider  this  subject  under  these 
three  heads — personal  bondage,  mental  bondage,  and 
moral  bondage 

I.  PERSONAL  BONDAGE. — Every  Mormon  goes  through 


THE   SOCIAL   PUZZLE.  Ill 

the  Endowment  House,  from  which  no  man  emerges  with 
his  manhood  remaining.  He  has  sunk  to  be  the  slave 
of  the  priesthood.  In  that  house  an  awful  oath  is  ad- 
ministered to  every  one,  obligating  the  individual,  under 
fearful  penalty,  to  uphold  the  Church  at  every  cost  and 
obey  it  in  all  things.  That  terrible  oath  unmans  the 
whole  Mormon  race  and  brings  them  into  bondage.  The 
Mormon  leaders  claim  to  be  infallible — men  inspired, 
who  catch  the  very  thought  of  God  and  pronounce  His 
words.  They  are  the  direct  vicegerents  of  the  Al- 
mighty, and  are  at  all  times  endowed  by  means  of  reve- 
lations with  the  wisdom  to  guide  their  people  aright  in 
all  things,  temporal  as  well  as  spiritual.  This  claim  is 
admitted  by  all  their  followers.  Accordingly,  in  the 
most  tyrannical  way  the  priesthood  dictates  about  all  the 
affairs  of  the  people,  telling  them  what  store  they  must 
trade  at,  what  newspaper  they  must  read,  what  school 
they  must  patronize.  In  fine,  Brigham  Young  claimed 
that  his  people  could  do  nothing  without  his  knowledge 
and  approval,  "  even  to  the  ribbons  a  woman  should 
wear.''  The  control  of  the  Church  over  all  the  tem- 
poral affairs  of  the  people  is  as  absolute  as  their  control 
of  purely  spiritual  matters.  One  of  their  prominent 
speakers  said  a  few  years  ago  :  "  I  cannot  separate  be- 
tween temporal  and  spiritual  affairs.  The  priesthood 
has  as  much  control  over  one  as  the  other."  Therefore 
the  Mormons  are  under  personal  bondage.  Their  per- 
sons, their  services,  their  property — all  are  under  the 
control  not  of  themselves  individually,  but  of  their 
leaders. 

At  each  semi-annual  conference  missionaries  are  ap- 
pointed to  go  to  the  outside  world  and  proclaim  the 
doctrines  of  their  religion.  At  the  least  calculation  there 
are  three  hundred  such  missionaries  constantly  in  the 


112  THE   MORMON    PUZZLE. 

field,  going  up  and  down  in  the  States  of  our  own  land, 
and  also  the  countries  of  Europe  and  the  isles  of  the  sea. 
They  must  go  at  their  own  expense,  and  are  required  to 
stay  until  recalled  by  the  priesthood.  If  it  is  necessary 
for  a  missionary  to  sell  his  last  cow  to  get  the  means  to 
pay  his  expenses,  he  must  do  so,  even  though  his  family 
should  be  left  entirely  destitute  ;  and  he  is  taught  to  be- 
lieve that  the  greater  the  sacrifice,  the  greater  the  glory 
in  the  next  world. 

A  Presbyterian  minister  in  the  southern  part  of  the 
Territory  got  the  privilege  of  boarding  in  a  Mormon 
family.  As  soon  as  the  priesthood  found  it  out  this 
family  was  required  to  close  its  doors  against  the  minis- 
ter, although  they  were  greatly  in  need  of  the  money 
which  he  was  ready  to  pay  for  his  board. 

Another  minister  in  the  northern  part  of  the  Territory 
hired  a  building  for  a  mission  school  from  an  old  lady 
connected  with  the  Mormon  Church,  and  paid  a  month's 
rent  in  advance.  As  soon  as  the  priesthood  found  out 
what  she  had  done,  they  brought  such  pressure  to  bear 
upon  her  that  she  went  to  the  minister  and  urged  him 
to  give  her  back  the  building,  although  in  her  poverty 
she  greatly  needed  the  rent.  Is  not  that  slavery  ?  And 
yet  President  Taylor  has  stood  up  in  the  great  Taber- 
nacle at  Salt  Lake  City  and  declared  that  they  were  in 
favor  of  the  largest  liberty  for  their  own  people  and  for 
all  mankind. 

Thousands  of  converts  to  Mormonism  are  brought 
from  Europe  to  Utah  every  season,  and  this  large  im- 
migration is  under  the  complete  control  of  the  Church. 
It  can  be  sent  to  any  place  it  is  thought  best.  If  a 
colony  is  started  in  Arizona  or  Nevada,  and  it  is  thought 
best  to  enlarge  it,  the  immigration  is  sent  thither.  The 
persons  must  go  where  they  are  directed,  however  much 


THE   SOCIAL   PUZZLE.  113 

they  might  prefer  to  settle  somewhere  in  the  beautiful 
Salt  Lake  Valley,  the  Switzerland  of  America.  Every 
settlement  is  made  under  the  direction  of  the  Church. 

Not  only  is  the  foreign  immigration  under  the 
control  of  the  priesthood,  but  all  members  who  have 
already  settled  either  in  Utah  or  elsewhere  are  subject  to 
the  orders  of  the  Church.  If  the  priesthood  think  it 
expedient  to  send  a  thousand  or  two  thousand  into  Col- 
orado or  Arizona  or  any  other  locality,  the  number  is  di- 
vided out  among  the  different  wards,  and  each  ward 
must  not  only  furnish  its  quota  of  men,  but  all  the 
means  for  the  emigration ;  and  the  persons  selected 
must  go,  although  it  is  a  great  sacrifice  to  them  to  leave 
their  cultivated  lands  and  comfortable  homes  and  go  into 
the  unbroken  country  of  another  Territory  to  again  un- 
dergo the  trials  and  sufferings  incident  to  pioneer  life. 

The  power  of  the  Church  is  also  brought  to  bear  on 
all  the  daily  business  of  life.  In  the  mining  districts  of 
Southern  Utah,  the  contractors  for  furnishing  salt, 
wood,  charcoal,  etc.,  are  all  Mormon  bishops.  They 
hire  the  persons  under  them  at  starvation  prices,  and 
pay  them  in  orders  on  the  co-operative  supply  stores,  in 
which  they  are  either  principals  or  partners  ;  and  the 
men  so  employed  never  see  a  dollar  of  cash.  Should 
one  of  the  common  people  undertake  to  do  any  haul- 
ing, wood-supplying,  or  other  business  with  the  mines, 
they  would  get  an  intimation  that  they  must  desist.  If 
this  hint  is  disregarded,  a  meeting  of  the  Council  is 
called,  composed  of  the  bishops  and  apostles  ;  and  as 
it  is  shown  that  some  one  of  them  is  being  interfered 
with,  the  order  goes  forth  from  the  Church  that  this 
private  enterprise  must  stop  ;  and  this  no  Mormon  dare 
disregard.  If  one  of  the  mining  companies  undertakes 
to  do  its  business  with  any  except  the  bishops,  every 


114  THE   MORMON    PUZZLE. 

obstacle  possible  is  thrown  in  its  way.  Teams  cannot 
be  hired.  The  bishop  pays  wages  at  about  a  dollar  a 
day,  payable  from  the  co-operative  store  ;  but  if  a  min- 
ing superintendent  wants  men,  he  must  pay  four  dollars 
a  day.  Thus  the  Mormon  bishops  secure  all  the  profits 
of  contracts  from  the  mines.  They  take  possession  of 
all  the  woodlands  and  cut  oft  the  wood,  never  taking 
the  trouble  to  comply  with  the  law.  They  rule  every- 
thing with  a  heavy  hand,  and  woe  to  the  poor  man  who 
dares  to  try  to  make  his  living  independently.  The 
serfs  of  Russia  in  the  olden  time  were  not  more  abject 
slaves  than  these  people  under  the  terrible  power  of  the 
Church.  Independence  of  action  is  entirely  taken  away 
from  them.  They  are  in  personal  bondage.  Well  may 
we  exclaim  :  "  Genius  of  America  !  Spirit  of  our  free 
institutions  !  where  art  thou  ?" 

1 '  Shall  our  own  brethren  drag  the  chain 
Which  not  even  Eussia's  menials  wear  ?" 

But  this  is  not  all. 

II.  The  Mormons  are  not  only  in  personal  bondage, 
but  worse  than  that — they  are  in  MENTAL  BONDAGE. 

Such  tyranny  as  has  been  already  alluded  to  is  possible 
only  because  Ignorance  and  her  handmaid,  Superstition, 
are  throwing  their  dark  pall  over  the  mass  of  the  Mor- 
mon people.  Mormonism  grows  mainly  by  imposition 
upon  the  ignorant  and  the  credulous.  Joseph  Smith, 
its  founder,  was  illiterate,  and  so  was  Brigham  Young  ; 
and  the  mass  of  Mormons  from  the  beginning  were  from 
a  class  of  people  whose  education  was  very  limited. 
Such  also  is  the  character  of  their  converts  now.  They 
are  gathered  from  the  very  lowest  classes  of  the  peas- 
antry of  England,  Germany,  and  Scandinavia  ;  and  in 
our  land  the  poor  rural  element  of  the  Southern  States, 


THE   SOCIAL   PUZZLE.  115 

commonly  called  the  "  cracker"  element,  is  a  favorite 
and  successful  field  for  Mormon  missionary  labor,  be- 
cause the  elders  find  as  much  ignorance  and  credulity 
among  the  poor  whites  of  Tennessee,  Georgia,  and 
neighboring  States,  as  they  do  among  the  low  classes 
of  Europe. 

If  you  go  into  the  Tabernacle  at  Salt  Lake  City,  it  is 
said,  one  is  reminded,  in  looking  at  the  faces  of  the  peo- 
ple, of  what  we  can  see  in  Castle  Garden.  The  marks 
of  ignorance  are  stamped  upon  their  very  countenances. 
It  has  been  aptly  said  :  "  The  illiteracy  of  the  average 
Mormon  is  denser  than  a  London  fog. "  In  an  article 
published  in  the  Presbyterian >  Review ,  April,  1881,  Rev. 
Dr.  McNiece,  of  Salt  Lake  City,  said  that,  so  far  as  he 
knew,  "  after  three  years'  observation  in  Utah,  there  are 
only  three  persons  among  the  entire  body  of  Mormons 
who  can  make  the  least  claim  to  scholarship.  One  of 
these  is  a  woman  of  notoriously  immoral  character  ;  one 
of  the  others  is  always  spoken  of  as  a  religious  mono- 
maniac ;  .and  the  character  of  the  third  is  such  as  to 
compel  one  to  believe  that  he  supports  Mormonism  sim- 
ply because  of  the  lucrative  office  which  it  gives  him.'" 
According  to  the  teachers  engaged  in  the  Christian 
schools  there,  the  ignorance  met  with  is  simply  appall- 
ing. In  many  cases  neither  men  nor  women  know  how 
to  read.  Children  are  plenty  who  never  heard  of  God, 
and  know  no  more  of  Christ  than  a  beggar  in  the  city 
of  Nineveh  in  the  days  of  Jonah.  History  and 
geography  are  to  a  great  extent  unknown  and  un- 
taught ;  even  our  own  country  outside  of  Utah  is  un- 
known. The  Mormon  leaders  take  great  pains  to  keep 
their  people  in  ignorance.  Learning,  intelligence,  are 
everywhere  at  a  discount. 
v  The  civilized  world  recognizes  the  fact  that  the 


116  THE   MORMON    PUZZLE. 

diffusion  of  knowledge  elevates  humanity.  Shake- 
speare says  : 

"  Ignorance  is  the  curse  of  God, 
Knowledge  the  wing  wherewith  we  fly  to  heaven." 

One  of  the  chief  features  of  this  age  is  the  desire  for 
universal  education,  and  every  true  reformer  seeks  to 
place  it  within  the  reach  of  all.  But  the  Mormon 
Church  is  the  recognized  opponent  of  free  education. 
Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  Mormon  priesthood 
has  had  control  of  Utah  for  well-nigh  forty  years,  that 
Territory  is  the  only  one  in  the  United  States  that  has 
not  a  system  of  free  schools,  open  to  the  poor  as  well  as 
the  rich.  The  teachers  with  few  exceptions  are  young, 
untaught,  and  without  experience  ;  and  the  schools  are 
scarcely  worthy  the  name.  The  main  object  of  the 
Mormon  school  system  seems  to  be  to  prevent  the  people 
from  learning  to  think  arid  acquiring  information. 

Now,  why  is  this  ?  The  only  reason  is  that  it  is  nee. 
essary  for  the  Mormon  Church  to  keep  her  subjects  in 
ignorance  to  enable  her  to  control  them.  This  was  the 
position  taken  by  Brigham  Young,  and  is  the  position 
taken  by  the  hierarchy  to-day.  The  plea  of  poverty 
cannot  be  justified,  for  the  Church  collects  over  a  mill- 
ion dollars  annually  ;  but  this  tax  of  ten  dollars  a  year 
for  every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  the  Mormon  Church 
is  spent,  not  for  free  schools,  which  would  develop  man- 
hood and  fit  the  taxpayer  to  be  an  honorable  citizen  of 
the  commonwealth,  but  for  that  which  rivets  tighter  the 
chains  that  bind  the  people. 

The  minds  of  the  people  are  in  a  condition  of  slavery. 
Independent  thought  there  is  none,  and  consequently 
free  speech  cannot  exist.  This  is  clearly  proved,  when 
we  call  to  mind  one  of  the  brightest  spectacles  in  the 


THE   SOCIAL   PUZZLE.  117 

history  of  Utah.  It  was  in  1869,  when  Henry  Lawrence 
and  his  associates  boldly  stood  up  in  the  "  School  of  the 
Prophets"  and  raised  their  voices  in  favor  of  free  speech 
and  free  thought.  A  noble  act  of  heroism  that  was — a 
stand  for  a  righteous  principle — a  deed  which  should 
gain  for  them  immortal  fame,  when  we  consider  the  real 
manhood  it  required  for  them  to  face  such  a  powerful 
and  tyrannical  hierarchy.  A  noble  fight  it  was  on  their 
part,  but  a  losing  fight ;  for  they  were  at  once  expelled 
from  the  Church,  branded  with  the  stigma  of  apostates, 
their  business  was  ruined,  and  they  and  their  families 
were  completely  ostracized.  That  act  of  expulsion  by 
the  Mormon  leaders  is  a  clear  proof  of  the  fact  that  they 
are  the  bitter  opponents  of  mental  freedom.  Who  ever 
knew  of  any  proposition  being  debated  in  their  confer- 
ences, or  any  nomination  voted  down  by  the  people  ? 
Who  ever  knew  of  any  matter  of  interest  being  left  to 
the  people  to  act  upon  freely  and  unrestrainedly  ?  The 
leaders  do  the  thinking.  They  arrange  all  things.  The 
people  must  acquiesce  and  think  as  they  do.  Is  THAT 

LIBERTY  ? 

Milton  says  : 

"  This  is  true  liberty,  when  free-born  men, 
Having  to  advise  the  public,  may  speak  free." 

But  free  thought  and  free  speech  are  not  the  preroga- 
tives of  the  Mormons.  They  are  MKNTAL  SLAVES. 


CHAPTER  IX. 
THE  SOCIAL  PUZZLE  (continued). 

MORAL  BONDAGE  of  the  Mormons —Implicit  obedience  to  the  priest- 
hood enjoined — Crimes  committed  at  their  command — Murders — 
The  Mountain  Meadows  Massacre— Lee's  confession— A  Mormon 
carpenter's  confession  —  Theft  —  Falsehood  —  Perjury  —  Why  was 
polygamy  promulgated  ? — Why  is  polygamy  practised  ? 

DEPLORABLE  as  the  condition  of  the  Mormon  is,  as 
already  depicted  in  the  preceding  chapter,  that  is  not 
the  worst  that  is  to  be  said  of  their  social  condition. 
They  are  not  only  in  personal  and  mental  slavery  ;  far 
worse  than  this,  they  are  in  MORAL  BONDAGE.  Sad  to 
relate,  their  souls,  their  consciences,  are  enslaved,  and 
consequently  their  condition  is  far  worse  than  that  of 
the  negroes  of  the  South  before  the  Civil  "War.  The 
central  thought  running  through  all  the  discourses  of 
the  leaders  is  obedience  to  the  priesthood,  and  the  con- 
sequences of  refusing  to  obey  counsel.  It  matters  not 
how  absurd  the  doctrine  may  be,  or  how  much  it  out- 
rages common-sense,  if  it  is  the  declaration  of  the  in- 
spired priesthood,  it  must  be  obeyed ;  and  most  of 
the  people  are  so  steeped  in  superstition  and  ignorance 
that  they  obey  without  question  all  orders  from  their 
chiefs,  and  even  kiss  the  hand  that  rivets  the  chains  that 
bind  them. 

The  tyranny  of  the  priesthood  was  well  illustrated 
when  one  of  the  apostles  on  one  occasion,  while  speak- 
ing in  one  of  the  ward  meeting-houses  about  the  solemn 
duty  of  obeying  the  priesthood,  happened  to  look 


THE   SOCIAL    PUZZLE.  119 

through  the  window  and  see  a  load  of  wood  passing  by. 
"  Now  I  want  you,"  said  he,  "  to  obey  the  priesthood 
so  implicitly  and  have  so  much  confidence  in  everything 
they  tell  you  that  if  Brigham  Young  or  any  of  the 
Twelve  Apostles  should  tell  you  that  load  of  wood  is  a 
load  of  hay,  you  would  all  say,  i  Amen,  that's  a  load  of 
hay.'  :  Even  though  their  very  eyes  should  belie  the 
statement  of  their  leaders,  yet  they  must  accept  it  as 
true,  because,  forsooth,  it  came  from  inspired  lips  ;  and 
although  they  might  be  commanded  to  do  that  which 
their  own  consciences  disapproved,  yet  they  must  do  it, 
because  it  is  a  command  given  under  inspiration,  and 
their  consciences  are  lulled  to  sleep  by  the  Jesuit  doc- 
trine, "The  end  justifies  the  means."  Surely,  that  is 
not  religious  liberty. 

On  account  of  this  moral  bondage,  the  worst  crimes 
have  been  committed  against  both  God  and  man,  which 
have  been  laid  at  the  door  of  the  Mormon  people,  when 
in  reality  they  were  only  the  tools  of  the  Mormon  priest- 
hood and  the  victims  of  an  enslaving  fanaticism.  They 
themselves  would  not  have  committed  them  if  they  were 
allowed  to  do  what  their  own  consciences  dictated  ;  but 
at  the  command  of  the  mouthpiece  of  the  Almighty 
Himself  they  dared  not  disobey. 

I.  Thus,  they  have  been  guilty  of  MURDERS  and  AS- 
SASSINATIONS for  no  other  reason  than  that  the  hierarchy 
uttered  their  mandates  that  they  should  be  accomplished. 

Take,  as  an  example,  the  Mountain  Meadows  Massa- 
cre, which  is,  perhaps,  the  darkest  page  in  the  history 
of  Mormonism  in  Utah.  It  was  a  horrible  butchery  of 
one  hundred  and  twenty  innocent  men  and  women  who 
were  emigrants  on  their  way  from  Arkansas  to  Cali- 
fornia ;  and  the  dastardly  deed  cannot  by  any  means  be 
justified.  For  a  long  time  the  massacre  was  a  deep 


120  THE    MOKMON    PUZZLE. 

mystery,  and  the  Mormons  asserted  that  it  was  done  by 
Indians  ;  but  the  mystery  has  been  unravelled,  and  it  is 
now  known  that  that  cruel  deed  lies  at  the  door  of  the 
Mormon  Church,  the  murderers  being  Mormons  with 
some  hired  Indians,  all  led  by  John  D.  Lee,  who  was 
convicted  of  his  crime  and  executed  on  the  ground  where 
the  murder  occurred  March  25th,  1877,  almost  twenty 
years  after  the  commission  of  the  crime. 

There  were,  no  doubt,  aggravations  at  the  time  leading 
the  Mormons  to  the  commission  of  the  crime  which  we 
should  remember.  Ordinarily  the  Mormons  were  glad  to 
see  the  arrival  of  Gentile  emigrants  en  route  for  the  far 
West,  as  it  gave  occasion  for  trade  and  barter  ;  but  at 
this  time  Federal  troops  were  advancing  toward  Utah, 
and  consequently  a  spirit  of  intense  hatred  toward  the 
Americans  and  toward  our  Government  was  kindled  in 
the  hearts  of  the  Mormons,  and  especially  of  their  leaders. 
Their  persecutions  in  Missouri  and  Illinois  came  up  be- 
fore their  minds  to  increase  their  hostility  against  the 
Gentiles.  Just  then  it  was  that  there  came  within  their 
borders  this  train  of  American  emigrants.  They  re- 
garded them  naturally  as  enemies,  and  their  very  pres- 
ence at  that  time  was  a  powerful  incentive  to  their  ex- 
termination. 

Moreover,  these  emigrants  were  from  Arkansas, 
where  only  a  short  time  before  Orley  P.  Pratt,  one  of 
the  first  Mormon  apostles,  had  gained  his  crown  of  mar- 
tyrdom ;  and  his  murderer  was  not  even  arrested.  Now 
the  opportunity  of  avenging  the  death  of  one  of  their 
leading  Saints  was  put  within  their  reach,  and  this  fact 
was  another  powerful  inducement  to  commit  the  crime. 
But  after  all  is  said  that  can  be  said  in  extenuation  of 
that  terrible  deed,  it  stands  forth  as  a  most  foul,  shock- 
ing^ and  unjustifiable  'butchery  > 


THE   SOCIAL    PUZZLE.  121 

Brigliam  Young,  as  Governor  of  Utah,  was  in  honor 
bound  to  protect  those  emigrants  on  their  way  across  his 
Territory,  and  yet  he  was  the  author  of  their  destruc- 
tion. On  the  fourth  day  after  the  emigrants  left  Cedar 
City,  in  Southern  Utah,  about  sixty  Mormons,  painted 
and  disguised  as  Indians,  it  is  said,  left  that  place  in 
pursuit  of  them.  They  were  under  the  command  of 
Bishop  John  D.  Lee,  and  had  all  the  equipments  of  a 
military  force  except  artillery.  Lee  invited  the  Piute 
Indians  to  accompany  him,  and  he  directed  the  combined 
forces  of  the  Mormons  and  Indians  throughout  the  en- 
tire siege.  At  Mountain  Meadows  the  victims  were 
overtaken.  They  were  taken  completely  by  surprise, 
but  they  at  once  corralled  their  wagons  and  prepared  for 
defence.  For  four  days  they  fought  heroically.  During 
the  third  day's  battle  it  became  a  necessity  with  the  emi- 
grants to  get  water.  It  was  in  clear  view,  but  it  was 
covered  by  the  rifles  of  the  Mormons.  Hoping  that  the 
latter  might  have  pity  on  children,  they  dressed  two  lit- 
tle girls  in  white  and  sent  them  with  a  bucket  in  the 
direction  of  the  spring.  The  Mormons  shot  them  down. 
The  morning  of  the  fourth  day  Lee  told  the  men  under 
his  command  that  his  orders  were  to  "  kill  the  entire 
company  except  the  children."  In  order  to  do  this,  he 
used  finesse  and  stratagem.  He  sent  a  flag  of  truce  to 
them,  offering  to  protect  them  from  the  Indians  if  they 
would  lay  down  their  arms.  Putting  confidence  in  his 
promise,  they  marched  up  to  the  spring  where  Lee  stood, 
and  placed  themselves  under  his  care.  The  line  of 
march  was  then  taken  up,  and  after  the  distance  of  half 
a  mile  had  been  traversed  Lee  gave  the  command  to  halt  ; 
then  immediately  the  command  to  shoot  them  down. 
All  the  men  and  women  were  slain,  stripped  of  their 
clothing,  and  left  without  burial. 


122  THE    MORMON    PUZZLE. 

In  1859  General  Carlton  raised  a  cairn  of  stones  over 
the  bleached  skeletons  of  the  victims.  Upon  one  of  the 
stones  he  caused  to  be  written  :  "  Here  lie  the  bones  of 
one  hundred  and  twenty  men,  women,  and  children 
from  Arkansas,  murdered  on  the  tenth  day  of  Septem- 
ber, 1857."  Upon  a  cross-beam  he  caused  to  be 
painted  :  "  Vengeance  is  mine,  saith  the  Lord,  and  I 
will  repay  it."  Brigham  Young  ordered  this  monument 
to  be  destroyed,  and  said  the  inscription  should  have 
read  :  "  Vengeance  is  mine,  saith  the  Lord,  and  I  have 
repaid  it." 

Lee  was  at  length  tried  and  executed  for  his  part  in 
that  terrible  butchery,  but  he  was  only  the  instrument 
of  the  Mormon  leaders.  He  was  in  moral  bondage, 
bound  to  carry  out  the  wishes  of  his  leader,  however 
willing  or  unwilling  he  may  have  been  to  do  so.  He 
would  never  have  ordered  that  massacre  if  he  had  not 
received  an  express  command,  nor  would  his  troops  have 
done  the  dastardly  deed.  But  they  were  in  "bondage. 

This  may  be  clearly  proved  from  the  dying  confes- 
sions of  Lee,  which  were  published  after  his  execution. 
On  the  night  previous  to  the  massacre  the  Mormons  held 
a  council  meeting.  In  describing  that  conference,  Lee 
says  :  ' ( I  know  that  our  total  force  was  fifty-four  whites 
and  over  three  hundred  Indians.  As  soon  as  those  per- 
sons gathered  around  the  camp,  I  demanded  of  Major 
Higbee  what  orders  he  had  brought.  .  .  .  Major 
Higbee  reported  as  follows  :  ( It  is  the  orders  of  the 
President  that  all  tJie  emigrants  must  be  put  out  of  the 
way. '  He  then  went  on  and  said  that  none  but  friends 
were  permitted  to  leave  the  Territory,  and  that  as  these 
were  our  sworn  enemies,  they  must  be  killed.  The  men 
then  in  council  knelt  down  in  a  prayer  circle  and  prayed, 
invoking  the  Spirit  of  God  to  direct  them  how  to  act  in 


THE    SOCIAL    PUZZLE.  123 

the  matter.  After  prayer  Major  Higbee  said,  '  Here 
are  the  orders, '  and  handed  me  a  paper  from  Haight. 
The  substance  of  the  orders  were  that  the  emigrants 
should  be  decoyed  from  their  stronghold  and  all  exter- 
minated, so  that  no  one  should  be  left  to  tell  the  tale, 
and  then  the  authorities  could  say  it  was  done  by  the  Ind- 
ians. ...  I  then  left  the  council  and  went  away 
by  myself,  and  bowed  myself  in  prayer  before  God,  and 
asked  Him  to  overrule  the  decision  of  that  council. 
At  the  earnest  solicitation  of  Brother  Hopkins,  I  returned 
with  him  to  the  council.  When  I  got  back,  the  council 
again  prayed  for  aid.  After  prayer  Major  Higbee  said, 
6 1  have  the  evidence  of  God's  approval  of  our  mission. 
It  is  God's  will  that  we  carry  out  our  instructions  to  the 
letter. '  The  meeting  was  then  addressed  by  some  one 
in  authority.  He  spoke  in  about  this  language  : 
(  Brethren,  we  have  been  sent  here  to  perform  a  duty. 
It  is  a  duty  that  we  owe  to  God,  and  to  our  Church  and 
people.  The  orders  of  those  in  authority  are  that  all  the 
emigrants  must  die.  Our  leaders  speak  with  inspired 
tongues,  and  their  orders  come  from  the  God  of  heaven. 
We  have  no  right  to  question  what  they  have  com- 
manded us  to  do  ;  it  is  our  duty  to  obey/  I,  therefore, 
taking  all  things  into  consideration,  and  believing  as  I 
then  did  that  my  superiors  were  inspired  men,  who  could 
not  go  wrong  in  any  matter  relating  to  the  Church  or 
the  duty  of  its  members,  concluded  to  be  obedient  to  the 
wishes  of  those  in  authority  ;  I  took  up  my  cross,  and 
prepared  to  do  my  duty." 

From  that  confession  it  is  clear  that  X.ee  revolted  at 
the  idea  of  the  massacre,  his  conscience  did  not  approve 
of  it,  and  in  committing  it  he  acted  as  a  slave,  as  a  mar- 
tyr, regarding  it  as  a  cross. 

So  doubtless  it  was  with  others  under  his  command. 


124  THE   MORMOX   PUZZLE. 

It  is  related  that  a  missionary  teacher  asked  a  carpenter 
to  make  some  repairs  to  her  school-house.  The  work 
was  done  at  noon-time,  when  the  children  were  away  from 
the  school ;  and  one  day  the  man  said,  "  I  believe  you 
are  a  Christian,  and  I  want  to  ask  if  you  think  I  can  be 
forgiven  for  helping  in  the  Mountain  Meadows  Massacre. 
I  want  to  tell  you  ;  it  is  on  my  mind  all  the  time  ;  but 
if  you  betray  me  my  life  will  be  of  no  account."  The 
teacher  said  she  would  not  betray  his  confidence,  and  she 
believed,  whatever  his  sins  might  be,  they  would  be  for- 
given if  he  repented  of  them.  The  carpenter  then  told 
her  how  a  lovely,  golden-haired  little  girl  was  sent  to  a 
spring  for  water  that  dreadful  day,  and  that  he  was  one 
of  those  commanded  to  shoot  her  down  ;  that  her  look  of 
entreaty  was  forever  before  his  eyes  ;  and  then  the  strong 
man  wept  at  the  remembrance,  while  making  his  confes- 
sion, of  a  barbarity  that  he  dared  not  refuse  to  accom- 
plish. Was  not  that  man  in  moral  slavery  ? 

Now,  as  that  massacre  was  executed  on  account  of  the 
moral  bondage  of  the  Mormons  to  the  priesthood,  so  also 
was  the  dastardly  murder  of  Dr.  J.  K.  Robinson  in  Salt 
Lake  City  in  October,  1866,  the  murder  of  the  Aiken 
party  of  six  persons,  the  Potter  and  Parish  murders,  and 
the  five  hundred  or  more  other  assassinations  which  stain 
the  history  of  the  Mormon  Church. 

II.  But  not  only  has  murder  resulted  from  this  bond- 
age.    THEFT  is  indulged  in,  not  because  their  consciences 
approve  it,  but  because  they  are  taught  by  the  priesthood 
that  the  plundering  of  all  those  opposed  to  them,  when- 
ever an  opportunity  occurs,  is  a  duty,  because  whatever 
is  taken  from  the  ungodly  Gentiles  is  that  much  put  into 
the  treasury  of  the  Lord. 

III.  FALSEHOOD,  too,  is  indulged  in,  whenever  it  will 
conduce  to  the  benefit   of  the  Church  and  shield  her 


THE   SOCIAL   PUZZLE.  125 

members  from  harm.  A  Mormon  apostle,  in  an  address 
at  Nephi,  Utah,  cautioned  the  children,  when  asked  how 
many  wives  their  fathers  had,  to  reply  that  they  didn't 
know.  "  I'd  rather  have  you  tell  a  lie,"  he  said,  "  to 
defend  your  friends  and  parents,  than  tell  the  truth,  that 
will  bring  trouble  upon  them."  The  Mormons  evi- 
dently do  not  pattern  after  the  Apostle  Paul. 

1Y.  PERJURY  is  indulged  in  to  a  large  degree  at  the 
command  of  the  priesthood.  Dora  Young,  one  of  the 
daughters  of  Brigham,  apostatized  and  declared  that  the 
first  thing  that  opened  her  eyes  to  the  atrocities  of  Mor- 
monism  was  her  father's  wholesale  perjuries.  John 
Taylor,  the  present  President  of  the  Church,  has  also  set 
the  people  the  same  example.  When  placed  upon  the 
witness-stand,  he  has  always  been  a  very  forgetful  man, 
and  could  never  recollect  anything  that  would  be  of 
value  in  any  case  against  any  member  of  the  Church. 
Such  an  utter  absence  of  memory  was,  perhaps,  never 
before  exhibited  in  a  court  of  justice.  George  Q. 
Cannon,  also  of  the  Mormon  Presidency,  the  ruling 
spirit  of  the  Mormons,  said  that  he  did  not  know 
whether  any  record  of  plural  marriage  is  kept  or  not, 
although  it  is  said  that  that  book  is  one  of  the  most 
important  books  they  have. 

Now,  when  the  leaders  commit  perjury  in  that  way, 
what  can  be  expected  from  those  who  regard  them  as 
gods  and  as  capable  of  no  wrong  act  ?  And  so  we  find 
that  Judge  Zane  had  to  dismiss  one  case  altogether,  owing 
to  the  lack  of  evidence  through  false  swearing.  Women 
in  polygamy  have  sworn  that  they  did  not  know  the 
father  of  their  children.  A  daughter  of  Brigham  Young 
professed  on  the  witness-stand  recently  not  to  know  that 
her  sister  was  married,  although  her  sister  had  had  a 
child  by  her  polygamous  husband,  and  she  had  been  in 


126  THE   MORMON    PUZZLE. 

and  out  of  the  house  frequently.  Some  time  ago  a 
Mormon  mother  was  called  upon  to  testify  before  the 
Grand  Jury  as  to  the  marriage  of  her  daughter  to  a  well- 
known  polygamist.  The  mother  testified  that  she  knew 
nothing  about  the  marriage  of  her  daughter,  and  denied 
knowledge  of  any  facts  connected  with  it  ;  and  after- 
ward, on  being  questioned  by  one  of  her  lady  friends 
how  she  could  swear  to  such  a  lie,  she  answered  :  "  I 
only  lied  to  their  God  ;  I  did  not  lie  to  my  God  ;  and 
the  authority  justified  me  in  -doing  so."  Oh,  what  a 
picture  of  moral  slavery  does  that  present  before  our 
minds  !  Tho  fearful  oaths  taken  by  a  Mormon  when  he 
passes  through  the  Endowment  House  require  him  to 
defend  a  member  of  the  priesthood  even  by  perjury,  if 
necessary. 

V.  But  that  is  not  all,  nor  the  worst.  Under  the 
head  of  moral  bondage,  I  think,  must  be  put  that  vice, 
which  is  called  a  relic  of  barbarism,  and  which  has  put 
Mormonism  in  antagonism  to  Christian  civilization  and 
the  laws  of  our  land.  I  refer  to  the  practice  of  POLYG- 
AMY, which  is  with  many  synonymous  with  Mormonism, 
but  in  reality  is  only  one  of  the  evils  of  that  social  system. 

Mormonism  had  its  birth  in  1830.  Polygamy  was  not 
promulgated  until  twenty-two  years  after,  although 
Joseph  Smith,  it  is  alleged,  received  a  revelation  on  the 
subject  nine  years  before  its  formal  declaration  to  the 
whole  Mormon  race.  In  dealing  with  Mormonism  as  a 
system,  it  must  ever  be  borne  in  mind  that  polygamy 
does  not  form  a  part  of  the  organic  structure  of  Mormon 
society.  It  is  an  invention,  recent  in  its  establishment, 
and  wholly  an  exotic  in  this  country  as  well  as  in  the 
countries  from  which  Mormon  recruits  have  been  largely 
gathered  ;  and  it  has  been  from  the  commencement  to 
this  hour  an  open  and  conscious  defiance,  not  only  of 


THE   SOCIAL   PUZZLE.  127 

the  public  sentiment  of  the  country,  but  also  of  its 
laws.  It  has  known  itself  to  be  a  transgressor,  and  every 
polygamous  marriage  has  been  deliberately  contracted 
with  this  knowledge. 

The  question  at  once  arises,  WHY  WAS  IT  PROMULGATED 
UNDER  SUCH  CIRCUMSTANCES  <  What  was  the  object  of  the 
leaders  in  declaring  it  to  be  a  divine  revelation  ?  While 
it  may  seem  to  many  that  polygamy  is  only  an  element 
of  weakness  in  the  Mormon  institution,  and  destined  to 
bring  destruction  upon  the  entire  system,  yet  if  we  study 
the  subject  carefully  it  will  be  seen  that  it  contributes 
strength  to  Mormonism  in  many  ways. 

1.  In  the  first  place,  their  numbers  are  increased  much 
more  rapidly  than  could  be  done  by  the  monogamous 
system  which  is  in  vogue  in  our  land. 

2.  In  the  next  place,  it  gives  a  firmer  union  to  the 
Mormon  people,  so  that  apostasy  cannot  occur  so  fre- 
quently as  it  did  in  Missouri  and  Nauvoo.     By   polyg- 
amy the  Mormons  are"  separated  from  all  the  rest  of  the 
civilized  world  ;  and  as  the  world  repels  them,  they  are 
driven  in  upon  themselves,  to  be  welded  closer  together, 
to  be  mutual  supports  to  each  other  under  persecutions 
and    trials.      The    unfortunate    women    who    practise 
polygamy  and  the  children  begotten  from  it,   even  if 
they  become   malcontent,   yet    know  themselves  to  be 
caught  in  a  net  from  which  they  see  no  escape  ;  and  they 
remain  in  their  place  and  practise,  because,  though  their 
hearts  are  broken,  their  homes  are  saved  by  a  religious 
sanction  from  foul  disgrace.     And  even   the  thousands 
who  are  not  polygamists  (for  not  more  than  one  tenth 
of  the  Mormons  are  polygamists)  will  uphold  polygamy, 
because  some  near  relatives,  as  sisters  or  daughters,  are 
praetisers   of   it.      They,    therefore,    although    not    in 
polygamy,  will  yet  stand  up  for  it  ;  and  for  them,  too, 


128  THE   MORMON    PUZZLE. 

with  the  actual  practisers,  it  becomes  a  bond,  binding 
all  together  into  a  unity  amazingly  compact  and  un- 
breaking. 

Having  thus  endeavored  to  answer  the  question,  Why 
was  polygamy  promulgated  ?  let  us  now  direct  our  atten- 
tion to  another  and  more  important  question,  WHY  is 

POLYGAMY  PRACTISED  ? 

Many  suppose  it  is  practised  because  it  allows  full 
sway  to  the  passions  of  the  sensualists,  who  are  the  only 
persons  who  practise  it ;  but  that  is  a  great  mistake. 
Some  sensualists  there  doubtless  are,  who  are  polyga- 
mists,  in  Utah  ;  but  at  the  least  nine  tenths  cannot  be 
branded  by  any  such  infamous  name.  It  is  practised 
not  because  it  is  loved  by  the  people  and  desired  by 
them,  but  because  they  are  urged — yea,  commanded  by 
the  infallible  priesthood  to  practise  it.  They  regard  it 
as  the  command  of  God  ;  and  that  is  the  only  reason 
why  it  is  practised  by  ninety-nine  out  of  every  hundred 
of  the  polygamists  of  Utah.  It  is  because  they  are 

MORAL  BONDMEN. 

Even  Brigham  Young  openly  avowed  that  when 
Joseph  Smith  gave  him  the  order  for  the  first  time  it 
was  a  great  trial  to  his  soul ;  and  it  is  said  that  the 
locks  of  an  apostle  turned  white  in  a  single  night  when 
he  was  commanded  to  take  another  wife.  The  idea  of 
taking  a  second  wife  to  a  man  who  is  happily  married  is 
extremely  distasteful.  Polygamy,  therefore,  has  en- 
slaved the  Mormon  men,  blunting  all  the  finer  feelings 
of  their  soul. 

But  if  the  men  are  enslaved  by  polygamy,  the  women 
are  martyrized.  A  writer  on  Mormonism  has  said  : 
"  Whoever  has  read  debasement  in  the  women  of  Utah 
has  done  them  injustice.  Some  there  be  who  are  de- 
void of  refined  sentiment  and  the  nobler  instincts  of  the 


THE   SOCIAL   PUZZLE.  129 

sex,  but  no  women  in  history  ever  deserved  more  respect 
and  sympathy  than  the  true  women  .among  the  Mor- 
mons." They  are  taught  to  believe  that  polygamy  is  a 
divine  institution  ;  they  are  taught  that  it  is  their  duty 
to  make  a  self-sacrifice — to  bear  the  cross  in  order  to 
receive  the  crown.  They  are  forbidden  to  covet  the 
entire  love  of  their  husband's  heart,  because  God  de- 
signed to  purify  them  from  all  selfishness  and,  besides, 
had  commanded  that  if  any  oppose  this  revelation  on 
"  Celestial  Marriage"  they  shall  be  destroyed ;  and 
while  the  Mormons  do  not  use  any  visible  coercion  to 
draw  persons  into  this  complex  marriage,  yet  that  reve- 
lation, with  its  accompanying  threat,  stands  like  a  fright- 
ful ogre,  hanging  over  them  like  a  doom,  and  sounds 
the  death-knell  to  their  happiness.  The  Mormon  men 
have  claimed  that  the  women  get  accustomed  to  plural 
marriage  and  are  happy  in  it ;  but  that  is  a  libel  upon 
the  nature  of  woman.  Surely  no  woman  ever  desired 
to  share  her  husband  with  another,  and  no  husband  could 
ever  please  two  wives.  No  ;  the  wives  of  polygamists 
in  Utah  are  living  martyrs.  What  days  of  silent  grief 
and  misery  they  must  endure  !  The  story  of  such 
women  can  never  be  told.  Many  a  young  wife  has  ex- 
claimed :  "  I  am  fainting  by  the  way  ;  but  for  my  chil- 
dren's sake  I  must  bear  up.  What  will  be  the  end  of 
all  this  suffering  ?' '  Many  more  have  found  early  graves, 
the  strain  of  mental  anguish,  added  to  physical  labor, 
proving  too  much  for  their  powers  of  endurance.  In 
thinking  or  reading  of  such  heart-rending  sorrows, 
one  is  impelled  to  cry  :  "  How  long,  O  Lord,  how 
long!" 

And  yet  this  moral  bondage  is  suffered  in  this  land, 
which  is  famed  for  its  light  and  liberty.  It  is  a  shame 
and  disgrace  to  our  nation. 


130  THE   MORMON   PUZZLE. 

"  How  good  to  lead  the  nations  of  the  earth 
In  every  field  of  valor  and  of  worth  ! 
How  good  to  hold  the  lightning  in  our  hands, 
And  flash  our  energies  to  other  lands  ! 
How  sweet  erewhile  to  see  the  slave  go  free  ! 
How  dear  to-day  the  breath  of  liberty  ! 
How  good  to  draw  the  larger,  purer  breath, 
After  the  years  of  battle  and  of  death  ; 
To  feel  how  well  our  country  bore  the  strain , 
And  settled  back  to  rectitude  again  ! 

"  And  yet — and  yet,  just  now  a  wailing  came 
Out  of  the  West — our  women  steeped  in  shame, 
The  name  of  wife  and  mother  made  disgrace, 
Home  in  our  midst  become  the  vilest  place  ! 
What  if  no  black  wrist  feels  the  iron  chain, 
When  snow-white  breasts  must  bear  the  scarlet  stain  ? 
What  if  the  old  plantation  homes  in  ruin  lie, 
If  Mormon  temples  proudly  kiss  the  sky  ? 


The  day-break  of  true  chivalry  is  now  ; 
And  every  knight  is  ready  for  the  vow. 

****** 

How  shall  our  flag,  by  Freedom's  breath  unfurled, 

Greet  Liberty  enlightening  the  world  ! 

Cowards  !     The  brazen  image  at  a  glance 

Shall  see  the  craven  in  each  countenance  ! 

The  torch  it  bears  in  its  uplifted  hand 

Shall  not  make  light  the  shame-spot  on  our  land. 

Day-break  indeed  !    The  midnight  is  not  past. 

Freedom,  forsooth  !    Not  while  yon  temples  last ! 

Enlightenment !     Our  bitter  inland  sea 

Gives  back  the  word  in  shameless  mockery  !" 


CHAPTER  X. 
THE  SOCIAL  PUZZLE  (continued). 

Reasons  why  Mormon  slavery  is  maintained— Hope  of  earthly  gain — 
Complete  organization  of  the  Mormon  Church — Prospect  of  promo- 
tion in  office  as  a  bribe— Fear  of  earthly  loss— System  of  espionage 
— Apostasy  formerly  punished  by  death — Mode  of  inflicting  the 
punishment— Social  ostracism — Religious  conviction  the  main- 
stay of  the  Mormon  social  system. 

HAVING  already  shown  that  the  Mormon  social  system 
is  a  system  of  slavery  so  complete  as  to  bind  with  its 
fetters  body,  mind,  and  soul — the  entire  man,  let  us 
now  briefly  inquire  into  THE  REASONS  WHICH  CONTRIBUTE 

TO  THE   MAINTENANCE   OF   THIS    DEGRADING    SYSTEM,  which 

is  so  utterly  hostile  to  the  enlightened  and  progressive 
spirit  of  the  age. 

1.'  There  is,  first,  THE  HOPE  OF  EARTHLY  GAIN. 

There  is  probably  no  system  on  earth  which  has  a 
more  cunning  and  complete  organization  than  the  Mor- 
mon Church.  Supreme  over  all  is  the  President,  with 
his  two  Councillors.  Then  come  the  Twelve  Apostles, 
who,  in  connection  with  the  President  and  his  Councillors, 
form  a  High  Council,  from  whose  decision  there  is  no 
appeal.  They  may  be  regarded,  therefore,  as  the  mas- 
ters in  this  system  of  slavery.  Then  come  the  Seventies 
(who  are  travelling  missionaries),  high-priests,  elders, 
bishops,  teachers,  and  deacons.  One  of  the  most  cun- 
ning things  about  the  organization  is  the  large  number 
of  office-holders.  There  are  over  23,000  officers  re- 
ported as  belonging  to  the  Church — that  is,  one  out  of 


132  THE   MORMON    PUZZLE. 

every  three  men  holds  an  office  either  of  honor  or 
emolument.  Each  of  these  has  a  hope  that  if  he  is 
faithful  to  his  masters  he  will  be  in  time  promoted.  If 
any  one  of  these  23,000  officers  is  disposed  to  criticise  or 
become  dissatisfied  with  the  system,  the  office  which  he 
holds,  and  especially  the  prospect  of  future  promotions, 
acts  as  a  bribe  to  submission  and  acquiescence.  Thus 
the  hope  of  earthly  rewards  is  one  of  the  great  sources 
of  strength  to  the  Mormon  system,  holding  it  intact. 

II.  Then,  there  is  THE  FEAR  OF  EARTHLY  LOSS. 

Hope  and  fear  both  operate  upon  the  minds  of 
the  people,  and  cause  them  to  submit  to  be  bound  by 
the  chains  of  a  tyranny  whose  equal  can  be  found  only 
by  going  back  to  the  Dark  Ages. 

The  Mormon  hierarchy  has  a  system  of  espionage,  by 
which  they  are  kept  informed  in  regard  to  the  feelings 
of  all  the  people.  The  whole  Territory  is  divided  into 
twenty  stakes  or  districts,  each  of  which  is  presided  over 
by  a  high-priest.  These  districts  are  again  subdivided 
into  about  two  hundred  and  thirty  wards,  each  of  which 
has  a  presiding  bishop.  The  teachers  and  deacons  are 
his  subordinates,  whose  duty  it  is  to  visit  each  individual 
in  their  respective  wards  and  find  out  all  about  his  affairs, 
both  temporal  and  spiritual.  In  this  way,  through  all 
these  various  gradations,  the  leaders  are  able  to  put  their 
finger  on  every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  the  whole 
Church. 

Before  the  Gentiles  forced  their  way  into  Utah,  and 
Government  troops  were  stationed  there,  if  any  of  the 
Mormons  were,  through  this  system  of  inquisition,  found 
to  be  discontented  and  unsubmissive  to  the  priesthood, 
inclined  to  free  thought,  free  speech,  and  free  action,  he 
was  soon  taught  a  lesson  by  the  "  Avenging  Angels" 
that  silence  is  the  better  part  of  discretion,  or  that  "  dead 


THE   SOCIAL    PUZZLE.  133 

men  tell  no  tales."  The  Church  held  every  man's  life 
in  its  hand.  Terrible  was  the  punishment  meted  out  for 
any  offence  or  act  of  insubordination. 

It  is  only  a  few  years  ago  that  it  was  the  practice  to 
inflict  what  they  call  'blood  atonement  for  any  flagrant 
offence  to  the  Church  or  any  disregard  of  its  orders. 
Brigham  Young,  after  the  people  were  well  established 
in  Utah,  alluded  on  one  occasion  in  a  public  address  to 
the  persecutions  in  Missouri  and  Nauvoo,  saying  that 
they  always  began  with  apostates  and  disaffected  spirits  ; 
and  then  he  said  :  "  Do  we  see  disaffected  spirits  here  ? 
We  do.  Do  we  see  apostates  ?  We  do.  I  say  to  those 
pei-sons,  you  must  not  court  persecution  here,  lest  you 
get  so  much  of  it  you  will  not  know  what  to  do  with  it. 
Do  not  court  persecution.  Now,  keep  your  tongues 
still,  lest  sudden  destruction  come  upon  you.  I  say, 
rather  than  that  apostates  shall  flourish  here  I  will  un- 
sheath  my  bowie-knife  and  conquer  or  die.  Now,  you 
nasty  apostates,  clear  out,  or  judgment  will  be  put  to 
the  line  and  righteousness  to  the  plummet.  Let  us  call 
upon  the  Lord  to  assist  us  in  this  and  every  good  work. " 

President  H.  0.  Kimball,  in  an  address  delivered  in 
Salt  Lake  City  August  16th,  1857,  said  :  u  If  men  turn 
traitors  to  God  and  His  servants,  their  blood  will  surely 
be  shed,  or  else  they  will  be  damned  ;"  and  this  doc- 
trine was  put  into  actual  practice.  The  culprit  was 
never  allowed  an  opportunity  for  defence.  He  re- 
mained in  blissful  ignorance  of  his  danger,  until  at  mid- 
night there  came  a  knock  on  his  door,  and  he  was 
ordered  to  accompany  the  four  or  five  masked  men  that 
confronted  him  when  he  opened  the  door.  Then  he 
knew  his  doom,  and  so  did  his  family,  who  knew  they 
looked  their  last  upon  him.  Being  led  to  a  secluded 
spot,  a  shovel  was  placed  in  his  hands,  and  ho  was  made 


134  THE   MORMON    PUZZLE. 

to  dig  his  own  grave.  He  was  then  seized,  forced  upon 
his  knees,  his  head  held  over  the  grave,  and  his  throat 
cut  from  ear  to  ear.  His  blood  flowed  into  the  grave, 
into  which  his  body  was  thrown  and  covered  up,  and 
no  more  was  ever  heard  of  him.  His  family  dared  not 
mention  their  suspicions,  and  no  Mormon  ever  dared  to 
be  inquisitive  or  mention  his  name.  Such  instances 
were  by  no  means  rare. 

Now  the  influx  of  the  Gentiles  has  caused  them  to  be 
more  careful  how  they  punish  apostates  or  insubor- 
dinates  ;  but  we  know  little  or  nothing  of  the  secret 
punishments  that  are  still  inflicted.  The  practice  of 
blood  atonement  is  now  stopped  by  the  necessity  of  cir- 
cumstances. In  the  presence  of  thousands  of  Gentiles 
and  Federal  troops  and  Federal  control,  the  Mormon 
Church  dare  not  any  longer  enforce  its  commands  by  the 
pistol  and  the  knife  ;  but  it  has  means  of  control  none 
the  less  effective,  which  it  does  not  hesitate  to  use.  The 
apostate  is  now,  it  is  said,  handed  over  to  u  the  buft'etings 
of  Satan,"  to  be  cursed  in  his  business,  in  his  family,  in 
his  body,  in  his  mind,  in  all  things  that  belong  to  him  ; 
and  the  Mormon  priesthood  have  the  will  and  power 
to  see  that  these  prophetic  curses  are  fulfilled  to  the  let- 
ter. 

There  does  not  exist  upon  the  face  of  this  broad  earth 
a  more  complete  social  ostracism  for  religion  than  in 
Utah.  Not  many  months  ago  a  girl  brought  home  some 
sewing  which  she  had  for  a  Christian  woman.  The  girl 
looked  round  upon  the  happy  home  and  burst  into  tears. 
Upon  being  asked  the  cause  of  her  grief,  sbe  replied  : 
"  Oh,  that  I  lived  in  a  happy  Christian  home  !  You 
think  me  a  Mormon,  but  1  have  never  been  a  Mormon  at 
heart.  My  mother  was  once  the  wife  of  a  Presbyterian 
clergyman  in  England.  About  three  years  after  her 


THE   SOCIAL   PUZZLE.  135 

marriage  my  father  died.  I  was  the  only  child  of  my 
parents.  My  mother's  people  became  Mormons,  and  my 
mother  emigrated  with  them  to  Utah,  bringing  me  with 
her.  Here  she  married  a  Mormon,  and  I  have  been 
carefully  taught  in  their  religion  ;  but  I  have  my 
father's  Bible,  sermons,  and  diary.  I  know  that  his  re- 
ligion is  true,  and  not  this  Mormon  doctrine,  which 
teaches  of  gods  many,  and  heaven  attained  by  sensual 
courses — women  earning  their  salvation  and  exaltation  in 
heaven  by  becoming  the  polygamous  wives  of  some 
wicked  man.  I  loath  it ;  but  1  am  poor.  1  can  only 
do  plain  sewing  for  a  living,  and  while  I  remain  with 
my  mother  she  will  charge  me  nothing  for  board.  I  am 
not  strong,  and  often  sick.  If  I  come  out  boldly  and 
say,  '  I  will  go  to  the  Church  of  my  choice  and  worship 
God  according  to  the  dictates  of  my  conscience,'  I  shall 
be  turned  into  the  street,  perhaps  be  denounced  as  a  bad 
character — not  an  uncommon  thing  in  Utah — and  come 
to  want.  No,  I  must  stop  at  home,  be  quiet,  worship 
God  in  my  heart,  and  pray  for  forgiveness." 

If  a  man  apostatizes  who  is  in  business  he  is  no  longer 
supported  by  the  Mormons,  and  they  in  many  places 
are  nine  tenths  of  the  people.  He  is  despised.  He  can 
get  no  work,  since  the  Mormons  control  nearly  all  busi- 
ness contracts.  The  Mormon  people  will  no  longer  hold 
intercourse  with  him.  His  family  is  the  butt  of  ridicule 
and  contempt,  and  his  children  are  insulted  and  stigma- 
tized. The  entire  family  is  as  completely  ostracized  as 
though  they  had  been  convicted  of  an  infamous  crime. 
Now,  it  certainly  requires  strong  heroism,  real,  sterling 
manhood,  for  one  to  face  such  a  prospect  for  his  family. 
Most  people  would  obey  the  dictates  of  the  hierarchy, 
whatever  they  might  be,  rather  than  bring  such  loss  and 
shame  upon  themselves  and  their  children.  Thus  it 


136  THE   MORMON    PUZZLE. 

is   seen    how  fear   of   earthly   loss   enters   as   a   promi- 
nent  factor  in   holding  the   Mormon  people  in  bond- 


Ill.  But  lastly  and  chiefly,  there  is  STRONG  RELIGIOUS 
CONVICTION,  which  is  the  main  prop  of  this  social  system. 
In  discussing  the  Mormon  puzzle  in  Utah,  we  must 
not  forget  that  for  twenty  years  this  community  was 
isolated  by  a  thousand  miles  of  barren  waste  from  civili- 
zation. During  this  time  it  was  literally  a  kingdom 
within  itself  ;  and  Brigham  Young  was  king,  his  word 
law,  his  command  a  commandment  from  God.  During 
that  time  the  present  generation  of  Mormons  were 
reared  ;  and  it  is  their  strong  conviction  that  the  word 
of  the  priesthood  is  the  word  of  God. 

If  we  only  glance  at  history,  we  will  find  many  evi- 
dences of  the  great  power  of  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord  " 
over  the  minds  of  men.  For  religious  conviction  per- 
sons have  burned  at  the  stake  arid  endured  all  manner  of 
physical  torture,  to  say  nothing  of  the  travail  of  soul 
through  which  they  have  passed.  It  is  to  this  power, 
also,  that  Mormonism  owes  its  strength.  So  strong  is 
its  control  that  the  Mormons  dare  not,  for  fear  of  the  loss 
of  their  soul's  salvation,  enter  protest  against  any  com- 
mand coming,  as  it  does,  with  these  words  prefixed  : 
"  Thus  saith  the  Lord."  The  priesthood  claim  to  have 
control  of  the  "  seals"  and  "  keys"  by  which  the  gates 
of  both  heaven  and  hell  can  be  opened  and  shut ;  and 
they  take  the  keys  by  which  they  pretend  to  open  the 
gates  of  vengeance  and  rattle  them  above  the  heads  of 
the  uneducated  and  superstitious,  until  they  are  fright- 
ened into  believing  that,  if  they  should  disobey  any  edict 
of  this  priesthood,  they  would  be  consigned  to  the  flames 
of  eternal  fire.  It  is  this  fear  of  the  loss  of  their  souls 
if  they  disobey,  and  the  conviction  that  their  leaders  can- 


THE   SOCIAL   PUZZLE.  137 

not  command  anything  hut  what  God  has  commanded, 
that  is  the  strongest  pillar  that  holds  up  their  social 
fabric.  Thus  do  the  •  Mormon  people  with  their  own 
hands  rivet  the  chains  which  bind  in  a  fearful  bondage 
their  bodies,  their  minds,  and  their  souls. 


CHAPTER  XL 
THE  SOCIAL  PUZZLE  (concluded). 

THE  SOLUTION  OF  THE  SOCIAL  PUZZLE — Mormon  slavery  and  negro 
slavery  compared— The  duty  of  the  Government  to  break  up  Mor- 
mon slavery — The  remedy  the  same  as  for  the  political  evils  of 
Mormonism — Brigham  Young  opposed  to  immigration  of  Gentiles 
— A  growing  spirit  of  restlessness— Necessity  of  surrounding  the 
youth  with  an  atmosphere  of  freedom — Personal  Bondage  of  the 
Mormons  overcome  by  Gentile  colonization— Social  ostracism  no 
longer  dreaded — Mental  Bondage  overcome  by  national  schools  and 
colonization — Moral  Bondage  overcome  by  the  same  means — This 
policy  not  to  be  confounded  with  the  let-alone  policy — An  apparent 
policy  of  toleration — The  alarmist's  cry  and  its  answer— The 
Mormon  standpoint  not  to  be  overlooked — The  cry  of  unconstitu- 
tionally—The  proposed  Polygamy  Amendment  to  the  Constitution 
— The  cry  of  religious  persecution — Imprisonment  preferred  to 
sacrifice  of  principle — Law  impotent  to  break  up  polygamy-  - 
Supposed  captivity  of  Mormon  women  a  mistake — Mass-meeting 
of  Mormon  women  to  plead  for  polygamy — Senator  Hoar  on  the 
solution  of  the  social  puzzle — How  the  law  should  be  enforced  and 
its  probable  effect — Superiority  of  the  colonization  plan  over  any 
other  plan — Its  effectiveness  proved  by  the  Oneida  Community— 
The  Social  Puzzle  solved — The  duty  of  the  nation,  the  citizen,  and 
the  Church. 

IF  our  diagnosis  of  the  Mormon  social  system  is  cor- 
rect, then  the  only  effectual  remedy  will  be  one  that 
reaches  the  real  evil,  which  is  slavery  •  and  as  polyg- 
amy is  only  one  of  the  results  of  slavery,  remove  the 
cause  and  the  result  will  likewise  be  removed. 

But  this  slavery  of  the  Mormons  is  very  different  from 
the  negro  slavery  in  the  South  before  our  Civil  War. 
The  latter  was  a  legalized  traffic,  and  the  remedy  for  it 


THE   SOCIAL   PUZZLE.  139 

was  law.  The  slavery  of  the  Mormons  is  a  voluntary 
one,  and  rests  not  upon  law  but  upon  religious  convic- 
tion ;  and  hence  law  cannot  be  an  effectual  remedy. 
The  Mormon  Puzzle,  then,  is  a  much  harder  one  to 
solve  than  the  .N~egro  Puzzle  before  the  war,  and  will 
require  a  longer  time  for  its  solution. 

The  galley-^lave  realizes  his  bondage,  feels  his  fet- 
ters, hears  the  twang  of  his  master's  whip,  and  longs 
and  plans  for  a  release  from  his  servitude  ;  but  he  who 
is  enslaved  by  a  mental  or  moral  dogma,  while  he  thinks 
he  is  of  all  men  the  most  free,  is  in  the  most  fearful 
condition  of  slavery.  This  is  the  condition  of  all  those 
who,  like  the  Mormons,  are  compelled  to  yield  a  blind 
obedience  to  the  teachings  of  an  infallible  priesthood  ; 
and  it  must  necessarily  be  the  case  that  all  such  are  un- 
fitted to  discharge  the  duties  pertaining  to  independent 
citizenship.  He,  and  he  only,  is  fitted  to  become  a 
worthy  citizen  of  our  nation  who  strives  to  be  an  inde- 
pendent thinker,  and  who  follows  no  guide  but  his  own 
conscientious  sense  of  right  and  wrong  ;  but  he,  and  he 
only,  is  a  good  Mormon  who  obeys  counsel  without 
question  or  gainsaying.  It  is,  therefore,  the  imperative 
duty  of  our  Government  to  break  up  this  slavery  among 
the  Mormons,  and  to  do  it  as  speedily  as  possible. 
The  Government  is  responsible  for  the  growth  of  this 
system  within  its  domains,  and  it  is  in  duty  bound  to 
eradicate  its  evils  so  far  as  it  lies  within  its  power  ;  but 
thus  far  the  root-evil  of  the  system  has  not  been  recog- 
nized. All  the  efforts  of  the  Government  have  been 
directed  only  against  one  of  the  branches — namely, 
polygamy.  The  real  evil  is  slavery,  and  it  seems  to  us 
that  the  same  remedy  we  suggested  for  the  solution  of 
the  Mormon  Political  Puzzle  is  the  proper  solution  of 
the  Mormon  Social  Puzzle  : 


140  THE   MORMON   PUZZLE. 

1.  A  NATIONAL  COLONIZATION  SCHEME,  which  would 
surround  the  Mormons  with  a  people  imbued  with  free- 
dom, and  exercising  freedom  of  thought,  speech,  and 
action. 

2.  THE    ESTABLISHMENT    OF     NATIONAL    FREE    SCHOOLS 

of  a  high  order  all  through  the  Territory,  by  means  of 
which  the  rising  generation  would  be  continually  sur- 
rounded with  an  atmosphere  of  freedom.  Nothing  can 
change  old  Mormons,  either  men  or  women  ;  but  the 
young  men  and  women — the  rising  generation — may 
be  reclaimed. 

The  system  of  bondage  in  vogue  in  Utah  can  only 
be  successfully  maintained  by  its  being  isolated.  The 
system  thrived  abundantly  under  Brigham  Young,  be- 
cause it  was  entirely  isolated  froni  the  rest  of  the  nation. 
There  were  at  various  times  individuals  who  dared  to 
assert  their  God-given  reason  and  freedom  ;  but  being 
alone  in  the  Territory,  they  were  soon  silenced.  But 
individual  thought  and  expression  have  more  encour- 
agement now  that  the  days  of  isolation  have  to  some 
extent  passed  away  by  the  opening  of  the  Pacific 
Railroad  and  the  mines  of  Southern  Utah,  and  the 
influx  of  several  thousand  Gentiles.  Brigham  Young 
knew  that  the  immigration  into  Utah  of  a  large  non- 
Mormon  population  would  be  the  death-blow  to  his  sys- 
tem, arid  so  he  used  every  means  in  his  power  to  pre- 
vent it.  He  opposed  most  strenuously  the  opening  of 
the  railroad  and  the  mines  ;  but  they  were  both  opened 
by  the  aid  of  United  States  troops.  In  the  same  year 
that  the  Pacific  Railroad  was  opened  Henry  Lawrence 
and  his  associates  made  their  noble  stand  in  behalf  of 
freedom  of  thought  and  action,  and  against  the  dictation 
of  the  Church  in  temporal  affairs  ;  and  ever  since  then 
there  has  been  a  growing  spirit  o'f  independence. 


THE   SOCIAL   PUZZLE.  141 

Among  the  young  there  is  a  growing  restlessness  and 
an  increasing  sense  of  shame  and  wrong.  The  condi- 
tions are  becoming  dangerous,  and  the  leaders  see  it. 
The  American  flag  is  overhead.  The  bombshells  which 
issue  from  a  free  press  are  being  heard  and  felt.  Some 
flashes  of  the  electric  light  of  knowledge  are  to  be  seen, 
and  some  of  the  hopes  which  make  jubilant  the  souls  of 
American  youth  elsewhere  are  causing  thrills  in  hearts 
in  Utah  which  have  heretofore  been  stolid.  The  thing 
for  us  to  do  is  to  surround  them  with  an  atmosphere  of 
freedom,  so  that  they  will  drink  it  in  with  every  breath  ; 
and  it  will  not  be  long  before  it  will  permeate  their  en- 
tire lives. 

Their  personal  bondage  would  be  overcome  by  their 
coming  in  contact  with  a  people  imbued  with  the  true 
American  sense  of  freedom.  In  a  few  years  no  fear  of 
consequences  would  prevent  them  from  asserting  their 
rights.  The  tables  would  be  turned,  and  woe  to  them 
who  should  deliberately  trample  their  freedom  under 
foot  ! 

Moreover,  by  bringing  in  a  large  population  of  non- 
Mormons,  social  ostracism  would  not  be  dreaded  as  it 
now  is.  If  the  majority  of  the  people  were  Gentiles, 
pecuniarily  it  would  be  to  the  advantage  of  a  man  in 
every  way  to  break  loose  from  his  bondage  to  the  Mor- 
mon priesthood.  Think  you  that  a  man  would  work 
under  a  Mormon  bishop  for  one  dollar  a  day  when  under 
a  non-Mormon  he  could  double  his  wages  ?  Think  you 
that  he  would  continue  to  allow  the  priesthood  to  swal- 
low up  about  one  half  of  his  income  when  his  income 
would  be  trebled  each  year  if  he  broke  away  from  their 
power  ?  Surely  not. 

Then,  too,  the  mental  bondage  of  the  people  would 
thus  be  overcome.  Even  aside  from  the  establishment 


142  THE   MORMON    PUZZLE. 

of  national  free  schools,  the  illiteracy  of  the  people 
would  be  greatly  overcome  by  the  system  of  coloniza- 
tion proposed  ;  for  a  much  more  enlightened  class  of 
people  would  be  brought  in,  and  by  contact  with  them 
the  scales  of  ignorance  to  a  great  extent  would  drop  from 
the  Mormons1  eyes,  and  they  would  see  their  bondage  ; 
and  to  see  it  will  be  to  break  from  it.  Besides,  the 
schools  would  inevitably  be  made  free  and  greatly  im- 
proved ;  and  the  newspapers  would  -be  greater  in  num- 
ber and  scattered  all  over  the  Territory  ;  and  who  can 
estimate  the  power  of  a  free  press  ? 

Moreover,  the  moral  bondage  of  the  Mormons  would 
thus  be  overcome.  Even  now,  with  only  a  small  number 
of  Gejitiles  in  Utah,  the  Mormon  leaders  dare  not  com- 
mand their  followers  to  murder  and  assassinate  as  once 
they  did  ;  and  polygamy  would  be  more  effectually 
overcome  in  that  way  than  in  any  other. 

But  the  policy  which  I  here  advocate  must  not  be  con- 
founded with  the  let-alone  policy  which  has  been  advo- 
cated by  some,  but  which  is  a  policy  which  no  true  lover 
of  humanity,  if  he  knows  the  enormity  of  the  existing 
evils  of  the  system,  can  hold  for  a  moment.  It  was  that 
policy  which  has  caused  the  system  to  attain  its  present 
rank  growth.  It  was  that  policy  which  has  brought 
disgrace  upon  our  nation  in  the  eyes  of  the  civilized 
world.  Shame  that  it  should  be  held  by  any  American  ! 
Was  it  the  let-alone  policy  by  which  the  awful  oppres- 
sion of  the  priesthood  was  iirst  broken  in  England  by 
that  immortal  hero  and  champion  of  liberty,  John 
Wicliffe  ?  Was  that  the  way  in  which  Luther  brought 
deliverance  to  the  oppressed  thousands  of  Germany,  and 
Knox  established  civil  and  religious  freedom  upon  the 
shattered  ruins  of  priestly  corruption  and  tyranny  among 
Scotland's  hills  and  vales  ?  The  let-alone  policy  was 


THE   SOCIAL   PUZZLE.  143 

tried  in  our  land  with  negro  slavery  for  more  than  a 
hundred  years.  Did  it  die  out  ?  Let  the  answer  come 
from  the  half  million  graves  where  sleep  the  unreturn- 
ing  heroes  of  the  Blue  and  the  Gray. 

Accordingly,  the  policy  which  I  advocate  is  not  the 
let-alone  policy.  Far  from  it.  It  is  rather  the  antipodes 
of  that  policy,  the  furthest  remove  from  it  possible. 
Instead  of  letting  every  Mormon  alone  in  his  voluntary 
bondage,  it  touches  every  Mormon  •  it  brings  a  power. to 
bear  upon  every  one  which  he  cannot  help  but  feel.  It 
brings  him  into  personal  contact  with  the  spirit  of  free- 
dom as  it  is  exemplified  in  the  genuine  American. 

True,  it  may  be  called  a  policy  of  toleration  ;  but 
therein  lies  its  strength  and  its  superiority  over  any 
purely  repressive  policy,  for  it  is  regarded  as  an  axiom 
that  to  tolerate  error  where  truth  surrounds  it  is  the  best 
means  for  its  destruction.  The  evils  in  the  Mormon 
system  would  long  ago  have  been  sunk  out  of  sight  but 
for  its  isolation  from  vital  contact  with  truth.  What 
the  result  of  a  battle  between  Truth  and  Error  will  be 
is  known  to  all ;  but  to  conquer,  Truth  must  be  brought 
into  close  contact  with  Error.  The  trouble  has  been 
that  Utah  until  quite  recently  has  been  hedged  in  by  a 
Chinese  wall  of  separation,  so  that  Truth  and  Liberty 
have  been  shut  out.  The  plan  we  'advocate  breaks  down 
this  Chinese  wall  entirely,  and  lets  in  the  light  of  Truth 
and  Liberty  upon  every  Mormon  soul.  It  allows  Truth 
to  have  free  course  and  fair  play.  There  will  then  be  a 
hand-to-hand  combat  between  Truth  and  Error  ;  and 
who  can  doubt  as  to  the  result  ?  ' '  Truth  is  mighty 
and  will  prevail." 

But  some  alarmist  may  cry  :  "  Ah  !  but  it  will  take 
time  for  that  moral  battle  to  be  fought  out  to  the  end, 
and  in  the  mean  time  the  horrid  cancer  will  spread  and 


144  THE    MORMON    PUZZLE. 

spread,  and  even  our  own  families  will  not  be  safe  from 
its  infection." 

But,  in  reply,  it  can  be  said  that  nothing  short  of  the 
annihilation  of  the  Mormons  would  overcome  polygamy 
very  soon.  Even  at  the  shortest,  it  will  take  several 
years  to  accomplish  its  effectual  overthrow.  The  Utah 
Commission,  in  their  report  to  the  Secretary  of  the 
Interior,  September  24th,  1886,  deemed  it  proper  to 
reiterate  on  this  point  what  they  had  before  said  in  their 
report  for  1884,  viz.  : 

"  As  the  Government  has  to  deal  here  with  a  people 
who  are  wonderfully  superstitious  and  fanatically  devoted 
to  their  system  of  religion,  the  public  should  not  expect, 
as  the  immediate  result  of  the  present  laws  of  Congress, 
nor  indeed  of  any  legislation,  however  radical,  the 
sudden  overthrow  of  polygamy  ;  and  the  most  that  can 
be  predicted  of  such  legislation  is,  that  it  will,  if  no 
step  backward  be  taken,  soon  ameliorate  the  harder 
conditions  of  Mormonism,  and  hasten  the  day  for  its 
final  extinction." 

Furthermore,  the  cry  that  "  even  our  own  families 
will  not  be  safe  from  the  infection  of  this  ever-spreading 
cancer"  is  nothing  but  sheer  cant — such  a  cry  as  the 
ranting  demagogue  might  raise  ;  and  it  only  shows  how 
ignorant  most  people  are  in  regard  to  this  question  of 
Mormonism,  even  those  who  claim  to  understand  it. 
Polygamy  is  not  taught  by  the  Mormon  missionaries, 
and  is  not  practised  outside  of  Utah,  and  is  practised 
there  only  by  a  small  minority  of  the  people.  In  the 
letter  of  the  First  Presidency  to  the  Mormons  at  their 
semi-annual  conference,  dated  October  6th,  1885,  there 
were  the  following  statements,  coming  from  the  head- of 
the  Church,  and  which  are  known  to  be  true  :  "  We 
never  have  believed  or  taught  that  the  doctrine  of 


THE    SOCIAL    PUZZLE.  145 

celestial  marriage  was  designed  for  universal  practice. 
There  appears  to  be  a  fallacious  idea  abroad  re- 
garding this  doctrine.  It  has  been  asserted  that  there 
was  a  design  to  propagate  it  outside  of  our  community, 
and  thus  introduce  into  the  United  States  an  element 
opposed  to  the  Christian  views  of  this  and  other  nations. 
On  the  contrary,  our  elders  have  been  instructed  not  to 
introduce  the  practice  of  that  principle  anywhere  out- 
side of  the  gathering-place  of  the  Saints  ;  and  they  do 
not  ^preach  it  abroad  to  any  extent,  even  in  theory,  ex- 
cept on  occasions  when  it  is  called  for  or  when  they  are 
assailed  on  account  of  it.  ...  It  should  also  be 
understood  that  the  practice  is  not  generally  admissible 
even  among  the  Latter-Day  Saints.  It  is  strictly 
guarded,  the  intention  being  to  allow  only  those  who  are 
above  reproach  to  enter  into  the  relationship. 
The  idea,  therefore,  that  plural  marriage  is  a  menace  to 
the  general  monogamous  system  is  without  foundation. 
This  fallacy  is  further  exhibited  by  the  fact  of  the  popu- 
lar antipathy  with  which  it  is  regarded,  people  outside 
of  our  Church  exhibiting  a  disposition  the  reverse  of 
favorable  to  its  establishment  in  other  communities, 
making  the  extension  of  its  practice  abroad  impossible." 
No  ;  our  own  homes  are  not  in  much  danger  from  this 
evil.  The  Mormons  in  Utah  will  be  the  only  sufferers. 
There  should  be  no  selfish  motive  aroused  for  the  de- 
struction of  this  evil.  Neither  we  nor  our  families  are 
in  great  danger.  Honor  and  humanity  are  the  motives 
which  should  actuate  every  American  to  wipe  out  this 
foul  blot  upon  our  nation's  face  and  to  uplift  our 
brethren  from  the  degradation  and  bondage  of  this  ac- 
cursed system  ;  and  although  the  plan  with  which  we 
propose  to  accomplish  this  end  will  take  some  few  years 
before  the  climax  will  be  reached,  yet  while  the  plan  is 


146  THE    MORMON    PUZZLE. 

gradually  being  wrought  out  it  will  place  a  greater 
check  upon  the  evil  than  any  other  plan,  and  in  the  end 
will  be  effectual  in  breaking  it  up,  which  cannot  be  said 
of  any  other  plan  yet  proposed.  And  what  is  more,  it 
would  accomplish  the  end  with  less  of  bitter  spirit  being 
manifested  and  with  less  property  and  lives  lost  than 
any  other  plan  that  could  possibly  be  brought  forth, 
because  it  is  in  strict  accord  with  Christian  principles  and 
has  nothing  in  connection  with  it  which  could  be  con- 
strued by  the  Mormons  as  religious  persecution. 

In  dealing  with  this  question  we  muot  not  overlook 
the  Mormon  standpoint,  although  it  may  differ  from  our 
own.  The  law  against  polygamy  is  regarded  by  the  Mor- 
.  mons,  in  the  first  place,  as  unconstitutional.  The  ex- 
isting prohibitory  law  is  only  a  statute-law,  which  they 
claim  to  be  out  of  harmony  with  the  fundamental  law 
of  our  land  as  expressed  in  the  Constitution.  The 
latter  they  claim  to  revere  as  inspired.  Accordingly, 
their  constant  hope  and  effort  is  to  obtain  admission  into 
the  Union  as  a  State,  so  that  they  might  no  longer  be 
under  the  exclusive  control  of  Congress.  Under  the 
Constitution  as  it  now  is,  Congress  has  no  legislative 
jurisdiction  over  the  question  of  polygamy  in  the  differ- 
ent States  of  the  Union.  The  whole  subject,  together 
with  that  of  marriage  and  divorce,  is  left  with  the  States 
themselves,  and  may  be  regulated  by  them  according  to 
their  own  discretion.  Knowing  this,  the  Mormons  are 
working  strenuously  to  have  Utah  admitted  as  a  State 
with  all  its  rights  and  privileges  ;  then  they  could  bid 
defiance  to  all  the  statute-laws  of  Congress  on  the  sub- 
ject of  polygamy,  and  in  the  exercise  of  their  undoubted 
right  they  would  enact  a  law  allowing  polygamy,  which 
would  not  transgress  any  article  of  our  Constitution. 
The  earnest  efforts  of  the  Mormons  will  naturally  be 


THE    SOCIAL    PUZZLE.  147 

directed  to  that  end  as  long  as  the  Constitution  remains 
as  it  is.  The  proper  thing  to  do  in  order  to  completely 
overthrow  that  idea  among  the  Mormons  is  to  pass  the 
proposed  Polygamy  Amendment  to  the  Constitution. 
The  Mormons  would  then  see  that,  so  far  as  that  institu- 
tion is  concerned,  they  have  nothing  to  gain  by  gaining 
political  control  of  a  State.  No  State  could  establish 
polygamy,  any  more  than  it  could  establish  slavery  ;  and 
if  any  State,  owing  to  local  public  sentiment  or  partisan 
politics,  were  remiss  in  dealing  with  polygamists,  the 
general  Government  would  have  power  to  supply  the 
remedy.  If  such  an  amendment  were  made  to  the 
Constitution,  the  cry  of  the  Mormons  concerning  the 
uncoristitutionality  of  the  Anti -Poly gamy  Law  would  be 
completely  overcome ;  Ar,  as  the  Utah  Commission 
very  aptly  say  in  their  report  for  1886,  u  they  would 
probably  not  have  the  hardihood  to  say  that  the  Consti- 
tution itself  is  unconstitutional ,  and  it  is  not  unreason- 
able to  predict  that  the  more  sagacious  and  influential 
persons  among  the  Mormons  would  realize  the  hopeless- 
ness of  a  further  conflict  with  the  Government,  and 
accommodate  themselves  to  the  inevitable  by  the  exercise 
of  that  *  worldly  wisdom'  which  so  often  tempers  and 
modifies  the  conduct  of  religious  fanatics." 

Nevertheless,  the  Mormons  could  still  raise  their  great* 
est  cry — that  which  has  the  greatest  weight  with  them — 
the  cry  of  religious  persecution  /  because  then,  as  now, 
they  would  claim  that  the  law  interfered  with  their  relig- 
ion. "We  cannot  admit  the  truth  of  their  assertion.  Chief- 
Justice  Waite  was  right  when  he  delivered  the  opinion  of 
the  United  States  Supreme  Court  on  this  subject :  "  Laws 
are  made  for  the  government  of  actions  ;  and  while  they 
cannot  interfere  with  mere  religious  belief  and  opinions, 
they  may  with  practices.  Suppose  one  believed  that 


148  THE    MORMON    PUZZLE. 

human  sacrifices  were  a  necessary  part  of  religious  wor- 
ship, would  it  be  seriously  contended  that  the  civil  gov- 
ernment under  which  we  lived  could  not  interfere  to 
prevent  the  sacrifice  ?  Or  if  a  wife  religiously  believed 
it  was  her  duty  to  burn  herself  upon  the  funeral  pile  of 
her  dead  husband,  would  it  be  beyond  the  power  of  the 
civil  government  to  prevent  her  from  carrying  her  belief 
into  practice  ?  So  here,  as  a  law  for  the  organization  of 
society  under  the  exclusive  dominion  of  the  United  States, 
it  is  provided  that  plural  marriages  shall  not  be  allowed. 
Can  a  man  excuse  his  practices  to  the  country  because  of 
his  religious  belief  ?  To  permit  this  would  be  to  make 
the  professed  doctrines  of  religious  belief  superior  to  the 
law  of  the  land,  and  in  effect  to  permit  every  citizen  to 
become  a  law  unto  himself.  Government  could  exist 
only  in  name  under  such  circumstances." 

Those  words  express  the  views  of  at  least  nine  tenths 
of  the  people  in  our  land.  To  deny  those  statements  is 
to  deny  doctrines  that  are  essential  to  the  possibility  of 
civil  government,  and  in  effect  would  reduce  society  to 
a  state  of  anarchy  in  which  every  one  may  do  as  he 
pleases  without  any  legal  responsibility.  Crimes  against 
society  do  not  cease  to  be  crimes  because  they  are  re- 
ligiously committed.  Society  can  never  take  the  crimi- 
nal's conscience,  whether  it  be  religious  or  otherwise,  as 
a  test  or  guide  on  this  subject,  and  yet  live  under  the 
regulation  of  law.  Nevertheless,  the  Mormons  do  not 
agree  with  us  in  such  views,  and  hold  that  every  person 
who  is  convicted  under  the  Edmunds  law  is  a  martyr  to 
his  religion. 

And  looking  at  the  subject  as  they  do,  we  cannot  help 
but  feel  a  measure  of  respect  for  the  Mormons  while  we 
deplore  their  bondage,  when  we  find  them,  after  convic- 
tion in  court,  when  the  alternative  is  presented  to  them 


THE   SOCIAL   PUZZLE.  149 

of  a  promise  to  obey  the  law  against  polygamy  hereafter 
or  go  to  prison,  deliberately  choose  the  latter,  saying,  as 
Abram  H.  Cannon,  one  of  the  elders  of  the  Church  did, 
March  17th,  1886  :  "  I  would  like  to  state,  your  Honor, 
that  I  have  always  endeavored  to  keep  the  laws  of  the 
United  States,  because  I  have  been  taught  by  my  par- 
ents that  the  Constitution  was  a  sacred  instrument.  That 
1  have  failed  in  this  respect  and  now  stand  before  you 
convicted  of  the  crime  of  unlawful  cohabitation  is  due 
to  the  fact  that  1  acknowledge  a  higher  law  than  that  of 
man,  which  is  the  law  of  God  ;  and  that  law  being  a 
part  of  my  religion,  sir,  I  have  attempted  to  obey  it. 
When  I  embraced  this  religion  I  promised  to  place  all 
that  I  had,  even  life  itself,  upon  the  altar,  and  I  expect 
to  abide  by  that  covenant  which  I  made.  And,  sir,  I 
hope  the  da}r  will  never  come  when  1  must  sacrifice 
principle  even  to  procure  life  or  liberty.  Honor,  sir,  to 
me  is  higher  than  anything  else  upon  the  earth  ;  and  my 
religion  is  dearer  to  me  than  anything  else  that  I  have 
yet  seen.  I  am  prepared,  sir,  for  the  judgment  of  the 
court."  Such  a  man  one  cannot  help  but  respect  ;  and 
we  can  only  wish  that  he  stood  up  thus  manfully  in  a 
nobler  cause  than  that  of  polygamy. 

Shortly  after  Governor  West  went  to  Utah  on  his 
appointment  by  the  President,  he  visited  the  peniten- 
tiary of  the  Territory,  and  in  an  address  to  the  Mormon 
inmates  promised  them  pardon  if  they  would  hereafter 
obey  the  law  ;  but  after  reflection,  the  following  written 
reply  was  sent  to  him  signed  by  forty-eight  Mormon 
prisoners  : 

"UTAH  PENITENTIABY,  May  24,  1886. 

"  To  his  Excellency  Caleb  W.  West,  Governor  of  Utah: 

"  SIR  :  On  the  13th  instant  you  honored  the  inmates 

of  the  Penitentiary  with  a  visit  and  offered  to  intercede 


150  THE    MORMOX    PUZZLE. 

for  the  pardon  of  all  those  enduring  imprisonment  on 
conviction  under  the  Edmunds  law,  if  they  would  but 
promise  obedience  to  it  in  the  future,  as  interpreted  by 
the  courts.  Gratitude  for  the  interest  manifested  in  our 
behalf  claims  from  us  a  reply.  We  trust,  however,  that 
this  will  not  be  construed  into  defiance,  as  our  silence 
ul  ready  has  been.  We  have  no  desire  to  occupy  a  de- 
fiant attitude  toward  the  Government,  or  to  be  in  con- 
flict with  the  nation's  laws.  We  have  never  been  even 
accused  of  violating  any  other  law  than  the  one  under 
which  we  were  convicted,  and  that  was  enacted  purposely 
to  oppose  a  tenet  of  our  religion. 

"  We  conscientiously  believe  in  the  doctrine  of  plural 
marriage,  and*  have  practised  it  from  a  firm  conviction 
of  its  being  a  divine  requirement. 

"  Of  the  forty-nine  elders  of  the  Church  of  Jesus 
Christ  of  Latter-Day  Saints  now  imprisoned  in  the  peni- 
tentiary for  alleged  violation  of  the  Edmunds  law,  all 
but  four  had  plural  wives  from  its  passage  to  thirty-tive 
years  prior  to  its  passage.  We  were  united  to  our  wives 
for  time  and  eternity  by  the  most  sacred  covenants,  and 
in  many  instances  numerous  children  have  been  born  as 
a  result  of  our  union,  who  are  endeared  to  us  by  the 
strongest  paternal  ties. 

"  What  the  promise  asked  of  us  implied  you  declined 
to  explain,  just  as  the  courts  have  done  when  appeals 
have  been  made  to  them  for  an  explicit  and  permanent 
definition  of  what  must  be  done  to  comply  with  the  law. 

"  The  rulings  of  the  courts  under  this  law  have  been 
too  varied  and  conflicting  heretofore  for  us  to  know  what 
may  be  the  future  interpretations. 

u  The  simple  status  of  plural  marriage  is  now  made, 
under  the  law,  material  evidence  in  securing  conviction 
for  unlawful  cohabitation,  thus,  independent  of  our  act, 


THE   SOCIAL    PUZZLE.  151 

ruthlessly  trespassing  upon  the  sacred  domain  of  our  re- 
ligious belief. 

"  So  far  as  compliance  with  your  proposition  requires 
the  sacrifice  of  honor  and  manhood,  the  repudiation  of 
our  wives  and  children,  the  violation  of  sacred  covenants, 
Heaven  forbid  that  we  should  be  guilty  of  such  perfidy  ; 
perpetual  imprisonment,  with  which  we  are  threatened, 
or  even  death  itself,  would  be  preferable. 

"  Our  wives  desire  no  separation  from  us,  and  were 
we  to  comply  with  your  request  they  would  regard  our 
action  as  most  cruel,  inhuman,  and  monstrous,  our  chil- 
dren would  blush  with  shame,  and  we  should  deserve  the 
scorn  and  contempt  of  all  just  and  honorable  men. 

"  The  proposition  you  made,  though  prompted,  doubt- 
less, by  a  kind  feeling,  was  not  new,  for  we  could  all 
have  avoided  imprisonment  by  making  the  same  promise 
to  the  courts  ;  in  fact,  the  penalties  we  are  now  endur- 
ing are  for  declining  to  so  promise  rather  than  for  acts 
committed  in  the  past.  Had  you  offered  us  uncondi- 
tional amnesty,  it  would  have  been  gladly  accepted  ; 
but,  dearly  as  we  prize  the  great  boon  of  liberty,  we  can- 
not afford  to  obtain  it  by  proving  untrue  to  our  con- 
science, our  religion,  and  our  God. 

"  As  loyal  citizens  of.  this  great  Republic,  whose  Con- 
stitution we  revere,  we  not  only  ask  for,  but  claim,  our 
rights  as  freemen  ;  and  if  from  neither  local  nor  national 
authority  we  are  to  receive  equity  and  mercy,  we  will 
make  our  appeal  to  the  Great  Arbiter  of  all  human  in- 
terests, who  in  due  time  will  grant  us  the  justice  hith- 
erto denied. 

"  That  you  may,  as  the  governor  of  our  important  but 
afflicted  Territory,  aid  us  in  securing  every  right  to 
which  loyal  citizens  are  entitled,  and  rind  happiness  in  so 
doing,  we  will  ever  pray." 


152  THE   MORMON"    PUZZLE. 

Now,  this  reply  is  respectful,  sincere,  and  straightfor- 
ward, yet  firm  and  vigorous,  and  shows  no  sign  of  weak- 
ness or  indecision.  "We  must  credit  the  signers  with  the 
courage  of  conviction  and  the  qualities  which  cause  men 
to  suffer  rather  than  recant.  Such  acts  show  unmistak- 
ably the  utter  futility  of  law  now  as  applied  to  Mormon 
polygamy.  Had  the  law  which  was  enacted  in  1862  then 
been  rigidly  put  in  force,  and,  if  necessary,  supplemented 
by  other  legislation  to  make  it  effective,  Mormon  polyg- 
amy might  ere  this  have  come  to  an  end.  Then  it  was 
in  its  first  decade  of  existence,  and  had  not  had  time  to 
be  firmly  grounded  in  the  minds  of  the  people  as  a  dis- 
tinctive article  of  their  faith  ;  but  now  it  lias  thirty-five 
years  of  open  practice  back  of  it,  and  the  example  of 
father  and  mother,  who  are  stigmatized  by  any  harsh 
appellation  applied  to  polygamy.  Furthermore,  the  be- 
lief in  it  has  been  instilled  into  the  minds  of  the  present 
generation  from  their  childhood,  and  has  become  firmly 
grounded  in  their  belief. 

There  is  one  great  mistake  made  by  most  people  in 
regard  to  Utah  polygamy.  They  believe  that  the  women 
of  Utah  are  held  by  the  men  in  a  kind  of  captivity,  not 
being  able  to  escape  from  their  degradation,  but  would 
gladly  avail  themselves  of  liberty  if  they  only  had  an 
opportunity.  The  fact  is,  that,  they  are  in  voluntary 
servitude,  and  would  not  accept  liberty,  because  they 
believe  it  is  their  duty  to  be  polygamists. 

There  was  a  mass-meeting  of  women  held  in  Salt  Lake 
City  in  the  fall  of  1878  which  was  attended  by  about 
two  thousand  women  who  were  devoted  Mormons.  At 
that  meeting  one  woman  seventy  years  of  age  said  :  "  I 
thank  God  that  I  am  a  polygamous  wife  ;"  and  sh#  said 
she  had  a  "  feeling  of  great  pity  for  those  who  did  not 
enjoy  this  good  blessing."  Another  old  lady  said  :  "  I 


THE  SOCIAL   PUZZLE.  153 

would  not  abandon  it  to  exchange  with  Queen  Victoria 
and  all  her  dependencies."  The  secretary  of  the  meet- 
ing said  :  "  The  women  of  this  country  want  to  crush 
us,  bat  it  will  be  diamond  cat  diamond."  And  thus  for 
nearly  three  hours  one  speaker  after  another  defended 
polygamy,  all  believing  it  to  be  an  inspired  doctrine 
given  by  God  to  aid  in  redeeming  a  sinful  world  from  a 
condition  of  sin  and  pollution  to  one  of  holiness  and 
purity.  The  following  resolution  among  others  was 
unanimously  adopted  by  the  meeting  : 

"  Resolved^  That  we  solemnly  avow  our  belief  in  the 
doctrine  of  the  patriarchal  order  of  marriage — a  doctrine 
which  was  revealed  to  and  practised  by  God's  people 
in  past  ages,  and  is  now  re-established  on  earth  by  divine 
command  of  Him  who  is  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and 
forever  ;  a  doctrine  which,  if  lived  up  to  and  carried 
out  under  the  direction  of  the  precepts  pertaining  to  it, 
and  of  the  higher  principles  of  our  nature,  would  con- 
duce to  the  long  life,  strength,  and  glory  of  the  people 
practising  it  ;  and  we  therefore  indorse  it  as  one  of  the 
most  important  principles  of  our  holy  religion,  and  claim 
the  right  of  its  practice." 

It  can  be  plainly  seen  from  that  meeting  that  the  lead- 
ing Mormon  women  are  in  earnest   in    their  plea  for 
polygamy,   and  that  it  is  practised  because  they  'believe  - 
God  commanded  it  •  and  consequently  it  can  never  be 
overcome  by  human  law. 

SENATOR  HOAK,  who,  with  Senator  Edmunds,  has  di- 
vided the  honor  of  originating  radical  laws  against  Mor- 
mon polygamy,  seems  himself  to  have  acknowledged  their 
worthlessness  as  an  effective  remedy.  The  following  let- 
ter from  him  to  Joseph  Cook  was  read  by  the  latter  in 
connection  with  his  lecture  delivered  in  Boston,  Feb- 
ruary 2d,  1885  : 


154  THE   MORMON    PUZZLE. 

11  WASHINGTON,  Januarj'  31,  1885. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR  :  1  am  glad  that  the  topics  of  Mor- 
monism  and  the  reorganization  of  the  South  are  to  be 
discussed  in  your  lectures  in  Boston.  Massachusetts  is  an 
old  State.  Her  people  dwell  under  institutions  which  have 
been  ripening  for  two  hundred  and  fifty  years ;  but  in 
the  West,  in  the  heart  of  the  Continent,  and  in  the  South 
we  are  laying  foundations  still.  If  Mormonism  live  and 
grow,  the  Christian  family  will  not  be  an  element  in  the 
civilization  of  the  great  Central  States  of  the  future.  If 
the  30,000,000  of  the  colored  race  who  within  fifty  years 
will  inhabit  the  States  of  the  South  are  to  be  a  race  of 
peasants,  denied  their  practical  and  equal  share  in  the 
Government  by  such  processes  as  have  prevailed  in  recent 
years,  the  republic  itself  cannot  continue.  The  Russian 
'  despotism  tempered  by  assassination  '  is  quite  as  desir- 
able as  Republicanism  tempered  by  both  assassination 
and  fraud.  In  the  ivarfare  with  these  things,  the  school 
and  the  Christian  Church  are  to  he  our  most  potent  in- 
struments. They  can  accomplish  more  than  any  politi- 
cal party.  I  have  contemplated  with  the  greatest  satis- 
faction the  noble  work  in  this  cause  of  our  !New  England 
churches  and  of  the  associations  they  have  organized. 
"  I  am  yours,  very  truly, 

"  GEORGE  F.  HOAR." 

It  is,  indeed,  true  that  the  school  and  the  Christian 
Church  are  more  "  potent  instruments"  for  the  overthrow 
of  polygamy  than  any  laws  of  our  political  legislators. 
Law  does  not  reach  the  evil,  for  it  rests  upon  a  strong 
religious  conviction.  Law  cannot  reach  it.  To  make 
a  law  that  a  man  shall  not  be  fanatical  is  to  waste  paper 
on  which  something  sensible  might  be  written  ;  for 
Congress  to  undertake  to  keep  people  from  becoming 


THE    SOCIAL    1'CZZLK.  155 

fanatics  is  unspeakably  ludicrous.  Legislation  in  that 
direction  is  intrusive.  Law  provides  for  the  punishment 
of  an  overt  act,  and  is  absolutely  powerless  as  to  a  man's 
eccentricity. 

We  do  not  mean  to  assert  that  the  laws  against  polyg- 
amy should  be  stricken  from  our  statute-books.  Far 
from  it.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  a  shame  to  our  country 
that  they  have  been  allowed  so  long  to  be  nullified.  Let 
us  thank  God  that  during  the  past  two  years  they  have 
been  enforced.  They  should  be  most  rigidly  enforced, 
although  no  such  system  of  inquisition  and  prying  into 
the  most  sacred  relations  of  husband  and  wife  through 
their  children  should  be  instituted  in  the  name  of  purity 
and  justice,  as  the  Mormons  claim  is  being  now  carried 
on  there,  and  which  called  forth  an  earnest  protest  by 
the  women  of  Utah  at  a  mass-meeting  in  the  theatre  of 
Salt  Lake  City  March  6th,  1886.  Besides,  other  crimes 
in  the  Territory  should  not  be  overlooked  in  zeal  to 
punish  that  particular  crime.  The  laws  should  be  im- 
partially executed.  Moreover,  I  believe  the  penalty  for 
the  crime  should  be  made  to  correspond  better  with  the 
gravity  of  the  crime.  Six  months'  imprisonment  seems 
a  very  small  penalty  for  such  an  enormous  crime  against 
society  ;  the  Mormons  purchase  martyrdom  at  too  cheap 
a  price.  It  should  be  increased  to  three  or  five  years' 
imprisonment. 

Nevertheless,  no  matter  what  the  law  may  be,  it 
cannot  alone  overcome  this  evil.  It  may  make  the  evil 
unpopular.  It  may  act  upon  some  as  an  educator,  and 
cause  them  to  lose  their  implicit  confidence  in  their 
leaders ;  and,  indeed,  such  is  said  to  be  the  fact  in 
Utah  now.  Dr.  McNiece,  in  his  letter  to  the  writer 
from  Salt  Lake  C1ity,  dated  February  12th,  1886,  says  : 
"  The  people  are  beginning  to  lose  faith  in  their  leaders. 


156  THE    MORMON"    PUZZLE. 

The  Lord  is  not  coming  down  on  the  Wahsatch  Moun- 
tains with  horses  and  chariots  of  fire  to  deliver  the  per- 
secuted (?)  Saints,  as  Orson  Pratt  used  to  predict.  In 
fact,  the  people  are  beginning  to  doubt  about  the  Lord's 
being  on  their  side  at  all."  Now,  that  is  a  good  sign  ; 
and  it  is,  doubtfcss,  true  of  the  more  enlightened  among 
the  Mormons ;  but  upon  the  masses  of  the  people,  the 
only  effect  will  be  to  weld  them  closer  together  ;  and  I 
cannot  but  think  that  the  leaders  are  glad  that  they  can 
raise  the  cry  of  persecution.  That  cry  puts  down  all 
internal  dissension,  and  unites  the  people  against  a  com- 
mon enemy.  "  The  blood  of  the  martyrs  is  the  seed  of 
the  Church,"  has  passed  into  a  proverb. 

But  the  plan  which  we  propose  has  nothing  of  perse- 
cution in  connection  with  it,  and  thus  it  will  leave  room 
for  internal  dissension  ;  and  from  within  alone  can  Mor- 
inonism  be  effectually  helped  to  eradicate  its  errors. 
The  evils  will  in  this  way  be  overcome  by  the  people 
themselves,  while  in  reality  the  work  will  be  accom- 
plished by  forces  without. 

That  this  system  would  prove  effectual  may  be  safely 
argued  from  the  fact  that,  wherever  the  Gentiles  now 
live  in  any  number,  there  polygamy  is  discountenanced 
and  is  on  the  decline.  JUDGE  C.  C.  GOODWIN,  editor  of 
the  Salt  Lake  Tribune,  in  an  article  in  Harper's  Weekly r, 
October,  1881,  said:  "  Not  half  of  the  daughters  of 
Mormons  who  have  grown  up  amid  a  large  population 
of  Gentiles  will  ever  enter  into  polygamy. " 

Besides,  it  may  be  argued  from  a  parallel  case,  which 
actually  did  take  place  in  our  own  land.  The  Oneida 
Community,  in  the  midst  of  one  of  the  most  prosperous 
and  intelligent  communities  in  the  State  of  New  York, 
openly  defied  popular  sentiment  and  covertly  trans- 
gressed the  law  by  the  maintenance  of  a  social  system  as 


THE   SOCIAL   PUZZLE.  157 

abhorrent  as  that  of  polygamy  ;  for  they  practised 
promiscuous  marriage.  They  were  a  community  having 
all  things  in  common,  and  the  women  were  as  much 
common  property  as  any  other  property.  Its  members, 
however,  were  not  mobbed  ;  they  were  not  terrorized  in 
the  name  of  law  ;  they  were  not  driven  into  exile  by 
persecution  ;  but  free  contact  with  the  healthful  cur- 
rents of  the  life  about  them  finally  resulted  in  the  disin- 
tegration of  that  portion  of  their  social  fabric  which  was 
maintained  in  opposition  to  law  and  the  sentiment  of 
their  neighbors.  ^Tow,  with  that  practical  example  in 
mind,  who  would  dare  say  that  the  scheme  we  advocate 
would  not  be  effectual  in  breaking  up  polygamy  ? 

Thus  we  trust  that  we  have  shown  that  this  plan  would 
effectually  cure  the  evils  of  the  Mormon  social  system, 
and  bring  the  Mormons  out  of  the  personal,  mental,  and 
moral  bondage,  which  now  blinds  their  eyes  and  benumbs 
their  sensibilities. 

We  regard  it  the  duty  of  the  nation  to  set  on  foot  this 
peaceful,  yet  most  effective,  plan.  Let  the  nation  at  once 
establish  free  schools  all  over  the  Territory,  to  let  the 
rising  generation  breathe  constantly  the  air  of  liberty 
and  have  the  light  of  knowledge,  that  the  ignorance  -and 
superstition  which  form  the  cement  which  keeps  the 
Mormon  social  system  from  falling  into  ruins  may  not 
get  possession  of  their  minds  and  souls ;  and  let  the 
nation  offer  large  inducements  for  colonists  to  emigrate 
to  Utah,  and  give  them  every  facility.  Money  spent  in 
this  way  is  for  the  general  welfare,  and  is  as  justifiable 
as  to  spend  money  for  a  national  exposition,  or  for 
checking  the  spread  of  cholera  or  yellow-fever.  If  the 
nation  would  do  these  two  things,  that  accursed  system 
of  bondage  would  disappear  within  the  next  decade,  and 
the  citizens  of  Utah  would  "  be  like  the  rest  of  us." 


158  THE    MORMOK    PUZZLE. 

But  if  the  nation  fails  to  do  this,  then  individual  citi- 
zens throughout  the  land,  all  lovers  of  humanity,  and 
especially  all  Christian  denominations,  should  take  the 
matter  in  hand  ;  and  they  should  not  only  plant  free 
schools  in  all  parts  of  the  Territory,  a  few  of  which  have 
been  established  already  by  five  different  Christian  de- 
nominations ;  but  they  should  also  form  Utah  Coloniza- 
tion Societies,  whose  object  should  be  to  secure  the 
planting  of  pure,  freedom-loving,  Christian  families  in 
every  Mormon  city,  town,  and  village  ;  and  they  should 
not  desist  until  the  Mormons  are  in  a  minority  in  Utah, 
the  people  freed  from  their  bondage,  and  the  laws  re- 
spected. Honor  demands  it  ;  humauity  cries  out  for  it ; 
Christianity  implores  it. 

•'  Up  now  for  Freedom  !    Not  in  strife 
Like  that  your  sterner  fathers  saw — 
The  awful  waste  of  human  life, 
The  glory  and  the  guilt  of  war  ; 
But  break  the  chain,  the  yoke  remove, 
And  smite  to  earth  Oppression's  rod, 
With  those  mild  arms  of  Truth  and  Love, 
Made  mighty  through  the  Living  God  !" 


PART  IV. 
THE    RELIGIOUS    PUZZLE. 


"THE  true  grandeur  of  nations  is  in  those  qualities  which  con- 
stitute the  true  greatness  of  the  individual." — CHARLES  SUMNER. 

"A   CHRISTIAN  is   the   highest   style   of    man." — YOUNG'S   NIGHT 
THOUGHTS. 

"  THERE  was  never  law,  or  sect,  or  opinion  did  so  magnify  goodness 
as  the  Christian  religion  doth.' ' — LORD  BACON. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

The  religious  aspects  of  Mormonism  paramount — General  ignorance 
concerning  the  Mormon  religious  system — SOUBCES  OF  THEIB  DOC- 
TRINES— Revelation,  not  reason,  the  primary  source — All  religions 
founded  on  revelation — Sacred  books — The  Mormon  Bible — The 
"Book  of  Mormon" —Migrations  of  Jews  to  America — Visit  of 
Jesus  to  America— "Book  of  Doctrine  and  Covenants" —The 
"  Living  Oracles." 

THE  majority  of  persons  are  more  interested,  it  seems, 
in  the  political  and  social  aspects  of  the  Mormon  ques- 
tion than  in  the  purely  religious ;  and  this  is  only 
natural,  because  events  of  a  political  nature  are  usually 
more  stirring  than  any  other,  and  multitudes  of  people 
can  grow  indignant  over  violations  of  the  law  of  the 
land,  who  at  the  same  time  have  no  deep-seated  abhor- 
rence of  sin  per  se.  The  war  against  polygamy  is  un- 
doubtedly of  great  interest  to  the  average  citizen  ;  and 
the  Christian  himself  cannot  help  sympathizing  with  the 
vigorous  work  of  enforcing  the  law  against  polygamy, 
even  though  he  may  not  always  be  in  sympathy  with  the 
spirit  of  those  who  make  the  political  phase  paramount' 
to  every  other. 

The  religious  aspects  of  the  question  must  ever  have 
the  pre-eminence  in  the  Christian's  mind,  because  the 
eternal  destinies  of  thousands  of  souls  are  involved  in 
this  great  heresy,  and  because  Morinoniam  will  continue 
to  have  strength  and  vitality  as  a  religious  system,  even 
though  it  be  stripped  of  its  objectionable  political  and 
social  features.  The  rank  and  file  of  the  people  are  de- 
voted to  their  creed.  They  sincerely  believe  themselves 


162  THE   MORMOH    PUZZLE. 

to  be  the  real  conservators  of  the  faith  once  delivered 
to  the  Saints.  They  are  fortified  by  a  system  of  theol- 
ogy as  plausible  to  the  darkened  understanding  as  it  is 
pleasing  to  the  natural  heart.  They  are  living  under  a 
covenant  of  works,  upon  which  they  have  staked  their 
all,  and  they  have  a  hope  of  abundant  rewards  in  the 
future.  Their  conception  of  the  divine  law  is  narrow 
and  inadequate,  because  their  notions  respecting  God 
are  cramped  and  carnal.  Gross  error  has  become  thor- 
oughly rooted  in  the  minds  of  the  people. 

As  we  have  already  seen  in  treating  of  the  political 
and  social  aspects  of  Mormonism,  its  real  power  lies  in 
its  doctrines.  It  is  the  Mormon's  constant  boast  that 
nothing  can  shake  the  sure  foundations  of  his  faith.  He 
has  a  sincere  conviction  that  his  doctrines  are  invulner- 
able ;  but,  although  the  strength  of  Mormonism  does  lie 
in  its  doctrines,  perhaps  not  one  hundredth  of  the  people 
of  our  land  know  anything  about  their  religious  tenets, 
save  the  doctrine  of  polygamy. 

Let  us,  therefore,  endeavor  to  get  some  idea  of  Mor- 
monism as  a  religious  system — a  system  of  doctrines  and 
precepts  ;  and  in  doing  so  let  us  consider,  in  the  first 
place, 

I.  THE  SOURCES  OF  THEIR  DOCTRINES. 

Mormonism  rests  not  upon  human  reason  as  its  first 
great  source,  but  upon  divine  revelation.  It  is  not  a 
system  of  philosophy,  therefore,  but  a  system  of  re- 
ligion •  for  Professor  Kostlin  says  :  "  Without  revela- 
tion there  can  be  no  religion  ;  and  it  is  a  fact  which 
should  not  be  overlooked  that  even  those  who,  on  account 
of  their  idea  of  God,  absolutely  reject  the  idea  of  a 
direct,  divine  revelation,  recognizing  nothing  but  Nature 
in  her  material  existence  and  mechanical  working,  can- 
not help  applying  to  Nature  expressions  and  conceptions 


HiDGE 

THE    RELIGIOUS    PUZZLE.]^         RARY"^ 

which  tend  to  raise  her  above  the  dumb  necessity,  and 
constitute  her  a  higher  being,  capable  of  moral  relations  ; 
nor  can  they  fora  longer  period  escape  a  feeling  of  thirst 
after  revelations  of  the  secret  depths  of  that  being,  which 
they  then  strive  to  attain  by  ways  more  or  less  mystical 
and  magical."  (Schaff-Herzog's  "  Encyclopaedia  of 
Religious  Knowledge/'  Vol.  III.,  page  2021.)  And  in 
accordance  with  that  statement,  the  editor  of  the  Inde- 
pendent, hi  an  editorial  note  published  April  8th,  1886, 
says  :  "  The  history  of  this  world  shows  that  in  respect 
to  the  subject  of  religion,  the  supernatural  is  to  human 
thought  and  feeling  really  the  natural.  We  search  that 
history  in  vain  for  a  religious  system  that  has  stamped 
itself  upon  the  faith  and  practice  of  men,  operating  upon 
them  as  a  controlling  power  of  comfort  and  hope,  and 
organizing  itself  into  their  personal  and  social  life  by 
forms,  usages,  and  modes  of  worship,  and  at  the  same 
time  professedly  based  on  the  discoveries  and  authority 
of  unaided  human  reason.  Philosophies  in  abundance 
have  been  the  products  of  such  reason,  but  religious  sys- 
tems never.  All  the  idolatries  of  antiquity  claimed  to 
be  supernatural,  and  the  same  is  true  of  all  the  forms  of 
modern  heathenism.  Such  is  the  assumed  character  of 
Mohammedanism  and  Mormonism.  .  .  .  The  world 
never  has  had,  and,  judging  by  the  past,  never  will  have 
a  religious  system  without  this  element.  It  does  not 
want,  and  will  not  accept,  a  religion  that  claims  for  itself 
no  higher  basis  than  that  of  mere  reason." 

"•Thussaith  the  Lord"  is  the  one  claim  of  all  the 
religious  systems  of  the  world.  Accordingly  we  find 
•  that  the  adherents  of  all  the  great  religions  have  their 
sacred  books,  which  they  venerate  as  revelations  from 
heaven,  from  whence  they  claim  their  doctrines  have 
emanated.  The  Brahmin  has  his  Yedas  ;  the  Buddhist 


164  THE   MORMON   PUZZLE. 

has  his  Tripitaka  ;  the  Zoroastrian  has  his  A  vesta  ;  the 
Jew  has  the  Law  and  the  Prophets  ;  the  Christian  has 
the  Old  and  New  Testaments  ;  the  Mohammedan  has 
the  Koran.  In  like  manner,  the  Mormon  has  the 
"  Book  of  Mormon"  But  the  Book  of  Mormon  is  not 
the  only  inspired  book  of  the  Latter-Day  Saints.  They 
adopt  the  Bible,  the  "  Book  of  Mormon,"  and  the  "  Book 
of  Doctrine  and  Covenants,"  as  their  inspired  Script- 
ures ;  and  these  are  the  sources  of  their  doctrines. 

1.  The  Mormon  Bible. — By  those  not  familiar  with 
Mormon  literature,  the  Mormon  Bible  and  the  "  Book  of 
Mormon"  are  frequently  confounded.     The  former,  how- 
ever, is  simply  our  English  version  of  the  Scriptures, 
with  such  modifications  and  distortions  as  Joseph  Smith, 
the  inspired  translator,  saw  fit  to  make.     He   twisted 
some  passages  in  Genesis  so  as  to  turn  statements  con- 
nected with  the  life  of  the  patriarch  Joseph  into  prophe- 
cies relating  to  a  great  prophet  called  Joseph,  who  should 
come  forth  in  the  latter  days — referring  to  himself.     He 
even  had  the  audacity  to  make  interpolations  in  Christ's 
Sermon  on  the  Mount ;  but  our  Bible,  as  translated  by 
Smith  and  interpreted  by  him  and  his  successors,  is  ac- 
cepted by  every  Mormon  as  inspired,  and  is  to  be  found 
in  every  Mormon  Church. 

2.  The  "  Book  of  Mormon"  is  the  next  source  of  their 
doctrines,  and  is  the  more  modern  revelation,  and  there- 
fore takes  precedence  over  the  Bible.     The  supernatural 
origin  of  the  book,  according  to  the  Mormon  belief,  we 
have  already  given  in  Chapter  I. 

Mormon,  after  whom  the  book  is  called,  was  the  last 
of  the  sacred  prophets  of  ancient  America.  He  was  the 
leader  of  a  race  called  the  Nephites,  and  perished  in  a 
battle  between  his  own  race  and  the  Lamanites  in  A.D. 
420. 


THE   RELIGIOUS   PUZZLE.  165 

Botli  Nephites  and  Lamanites  were  descendants  from 
the  family  of  Lelii,  an  Israelite  of  the  tribe  of  Manasseh, 
who  emigrated  from  Jerusalem  to  America  during  the 
reign  of  King  Zedekiah,  600  B.C. 

The  wars  between  these  two  races  form  the  great  bulk 
of  the  book.  In  the  year  A.I>.  420  the  decisive  battle 
was  fought  at  Cummorah,  in  Western  New  York.  The 
Nephites  were  exterminated,  with  the  exception  of  a  few 
individuals.  Mormon,  their  leader,  was  slain,  and  with 
him  230,000.  The  descendants  of  the  victorious 
Lamanites  are  the  North  American  Indians. 

The  "  Book  of  Mormon"  is  said  to  be  the  condensed 
record  of  the  history,  faith,  and  prophecies  of  the  ancient 
inhabitants  of  America,  made  on  golden  plates  by  the 
prophet  Mormon.  These  plates  he  intrusted  to  his  son 
Moroni,  who  survived  the  awful  battle  of  extermination. 
He  was  the  last  of  the  Nephites  to  die,  but  before  dying 
he  sealed  up  the  golden  plates  on  which  all  these  events 
were  written  and  hid  them  in  the  Hill  Cummorah,  the 
very  site  of  the  final  battle  between  the  Nephites  and 
Lamanites  ;  and  there  Joseph  Smith,  guided  by  the 
spirit  of  Moroni  himself,  found  them  in  1827,  took  them 
to  his  home,  translated  them  by  means  of  his  magical 
spectacles,  and  had  them  printed  under  the  title  "  The 
Book  of  Mormon. ' ' 

It  is  certainly  a  unique  work.  It  is  a  collection  of 
sixteen  separate  or  distinct  books  professing  to  be  written 
at  different  periods  by  different  prophets.  Its  style  is  in 
imitation  of  the  Bible,  and  it  incorporates  about  three 
hundred  passages  directly  from  tbe  Holy  Scriptures. 

Among  the  records  of  the  book  are  accounts  of  three 
different  migrations  to  the  American  Continent :  1.  A 
colony  from  the  Tower  of  Babel  soon  after  the  flood, 
which  was  led  by  Jared,  and  which  in  time  became  a 


166  THE    MORMON"    PUZZLE. 

great  nation,  but  was  destroyed  for  their  sins.  2.  A 
colony  led  by  Lehi  from  Jerusalem,  which  gave  rise  to 
the  Nephites  and  Lamanites.  3.  A  number  of  Israelites 
who  came  from  Jerusalem  about  eleven  years  after  Lehi. 

The  book  also  declares  that  a  supernatural  light  which 
lasted  three  days  and  three  nights  informed  the  inhab- 
itants of  America  of  the  birth  of  Christ,  and  later  a  ter- 
rible earthquake  announced  His  crucifixion  ;  and  three 
days  afterward  Jesus  Himself  appeared,  descending  out 
of  heaven  into  the  chief  city  of  the  Nephites  in  the  sight 
of  the  people,  to  whom  He  exhibited  His  wounded  side 
and  the  prints  of  the  nails  in  His  hands  and  feet.  He 
remained  with  them  forty  days,  and  repeated  to  them 
His  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  and  appointed  twelve  Amer- 
ican apostles,  and  gave  them  orders  regarding  baptism 
and  His  holy  communion. 

This  book  was  the  foundation  of  Mormonism  ;  and 
Sidney  Rigdon  said:  "  The  'Book  of  Mormon '  is  to 
govern  the  Millennial  Church  ;"  but  whatever  may  have 
been  its  uses  to  the  Saints  in  the  beginning  of  their 
career,  it  has  had  little  to  do  with  their  practices  for 
many  years,  save  as  a  text-book. 

3.  The  "Book  of  Doctrine  and   Covenants." — An- 
other source  of  Mormon  doctrine — and  a  more  fruitful 
source  than  the  Book  of  Mormon — is  the  "  Book  of  Doc- 
trine and  Covenants."     This  is  a  collection  of  all  the 
multifarious  revelations- that  Joseph  Smith  claimed  to 
receive  and  which  he  promulgated,  together  with  the 
only  revelation  put  forth  by  Brigham  Young — the  one 
which  he  set  forth  at  Council  Bluffs  in  18-iT  to  inspire 
and  guide  the  Saints  in  their  projected  western  pilgrim- 
age through  the  wilderness. 

4.  Living   Oracles. — The  fourth  source  of  Mormon 
doctrine   is   what  has   well   been   called   the   "  Living 


THE   RELIGIOUS   PUZZLE.  167 

Oracles,"  the  divine  communications  made  continually 
to  the  priesthood.  Theoretically  the  Mormons  hold  the 
Bible  and  their  two  sacred  books  to  be  the  inspired 
Scriptures  for  their  guidance  :  the  Old  Testament,  as 
addressed  particularly  to  the  Jewish  Church  ;  the  New 
Testament  to  the  Judaic  and  European  Christian 
Church;  the  "  Book  of  Mormon"  to  the  Church  of 
America,  and  the  "  Book  of  Doctrine  and  Covenants" 
to  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter-Day  Saints.  But 
practically,  authority  and  guidance  for  them  emanate 
from  their  living  leaders,  and  few  of  either  chiefs  or 
masses  read  any  of  the  three  sacred  books  in  order  to 
know  and  follow  the  recorded  teachings. 

Thus  Mormonism,  through  its  belief  in  a  continual 
revelation  to  the  priesthood,  especially  the  First  Presi- 
dency and  the  Twelve  Apostles,  has  marvellous  ability 
to  change  itself  to  meet  every  emergency. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

THE  RELIGIOUS  PUZZLE  (continued). 

MOBMON  DOCTEINES— Their  idea  of  God— Plurality  of  gods— Mormon 
Sunday-school  hymn  concerning  Smith — The  pre-existence  of  souls 
— The  doctrine  of  Polygamy — Practised  on  the  plea  of  self-sacrifice 
and  ambition — Necessity  of  preaching  their  gospel  to  all — Preach- 
ing to  the  dead— Baptismal  regeneration— Baptism  for  the  dead- 
Mormon  priesthood  necessary  to  salvation — Melchizedek  and 
Aaronic  priesthoods — Mormon  Endowments — Blood  Atonement — 
Doctrine  of  "  The  Fulness  of  Times." 

HAVING'  thus  considered  the  sources  of  Mormon, doc- 
trine— the  ways  in  which  God  has  revealed  His  will  and 
purposes  unto  them — let  us  consider  in  the  second  place 
some  of  their 

II.  DOCTRINES  AND  PRACTICES. 

1.  Their  idea  of  God  is  materialistic.  While  they 
profess  to  believe  the  Trinity,  they  say  that  God  was 
once  a  man,  who  has  advanced  in  intelligence  and  power 
so  much  that  now  He  may  be  called  perfect  ;  but  He 
has  still  the  form  and  figure  of  a  man. 

One  of  the  standard  Mormon  works  is  called  a  "  Key 
to  the  Science  of  Theology,"  written  by  Parley  P. 
Pratt,  who,  while  he  lived,  was  one  of  the  Twelve 
Apostles.  It  is  now  used  as  a  text-book  among  the 
people.  In  confirmation  of  the  statement  that  they 
hold  grossly  corporeal  ideas  concerning  God,  it  says  : 
"  God  has  an  organized  individual  tabernacle  embodied 
in  material  form  and  composed  of  material  substance, 


THE   RELIGIOUS    PUZZLE.  169 

in  the  likeness  of  man,  and  possessing  every  organ,  limb, 
and  physical  part  that  man  possesses." 

Christ,  too,  is  believed  to  have  been  the  offspring  of 
the  material  union  on  the  plains  of  Palestine  of  God  and 
the  Virgin  Mary.  Yet  Christ  is  believed  to  have  had  a 
previous  existence,  and  His  worship  is  enjoined  as  Lord 
of  all.  The  Holy  Ghost,  or  Paraclete,  is  also  material. 
Thus  do  they  lower  the  divinity  to  humanity  instead  of 
lifting  up  humanity  te  the  divinity. 

2.  Another  doctrine  is  that  of  Plurality  of  gods. 

Though  there  is  one  God  supreme,  there  are  many 
other  beings  entitled  to  the  name  because  possessed  of 
the  attributes  of  God,  such  as  creative  power.  All  these 
gods  were  once  men,  and  all  men  -are  potential  gods. 
The  book  of  Parley  Pratt,  already  quoted,  says  :  "  It 
will  be  recollected  that  the  last  chapter  recognizes  a 
family  of  gods,  or,  in  other  words,  a  species  of  beings 
who  have  physical  tabernacles  of  flesh  and  bones  in  the 
form  of  man,  but  so  constructed  as  to  be  capable  of 
eternal  life.  ...  A  general  assembly,  quorum,  or 
grand  council  of  the  gods,  with  their  president  at  their 
head,  constitute  the  designing  and  creating  power. 
.  .  .  Wisdom  inspires  the  gods  to  multiply  their 
species  and  to  lay  the  foundation  for  all  the  forms  of 
life  to  increase  in  numbers,  and  for  each  to  enjoy  him- 
self in  the  sphere  to  which  he  is  adapted." 

Adam  is  said  to  be  the  god  of  Jesus  Christ,  Jesus 
Christ  the  god  of  Joseph  Smith,  and  Joseph  Smith  the 
god  of  this  generation.  They  teach  their  children  that 
Joseph  Smith  is  their  god,  and  their  little  ones  hear 
more  of  him  than  they  do  of  Jesus.  Even  in  their 
hymns  is  this  great  error  taught.  I  will  give  one  of  the 
hymns  found  in  their  "  Primary  Hymn- Book,"  which 
is  sung  by  the  children  in  the  Mormon  Sunday-schools, 


170  THE   MORMON    PUZZLE. 

called  by  them   "  Primary  Associations."     It  is  as  fol- 
lows : 

"  The  seer,  the  seer,  Joseph  the  seer  ! 
I'll  sing  of  the  Prophet  ever  dear  ; 
His  equal  now  cannot  be  found 
By  searching  the  wide  world  around. 
"With  gods  he  soared  in  the  realms  of  day, 
And  men  he  taught  the  heavenly  way. 
The  earthly  Sun,  the  Heavenly  Sun  ! 
I  love  to  dwell  on  his  memory  dear  ; 
The  chosen  of  God  and  the  friend  of  man — 
He  brought  the  Priesthood  back  again  ; 
He  gazed  on  the  past  ;  on  the  present,  too, 
And  opened  the  heavenly  world  to  view. 

"  Of  noble  seed,  of  heavenly  birth, 
He  came  to  bless  the  sons  of  earth. 
With  keys  by  the  Almighty  given 
He  opened  the  full  rich  stores  of  heaven. 
O'er  the  world  that  was  wrapt  in  sable  night, 
Like  the  sun  he  spread  his  golden  light. 
He  strove,  oh,  how  he  strove  to  stay 
The  stream  of  crime  in  its  reckless  way  ; 
"With  a  mighty  min*d  and  a  noble  aim, 
He  urged  the  wayward  to  reclaim  ; 
'Mid  the  foaming  billows  of  angry  strife 
He  stood  at  the  helm  of  the  ship  of  life. 
The  Saints,  the  Saints,  his  only  pride  ! 
For  them  he  lived,  for  them  he  died. 
Their  joys  were  his — their  sorrows,  too  ; 
He  loved  the  Saints  and  he  loved  Nauvoo. 
Unchanged  by  death,  with  a  Saviour's  love 
He  pleads  their  cause  in  the  courts  above. 
The  seer,  the  seer.  Joseph  the  seer  ! 
Oh,  how  I  love  his  memory  dear  ! 
The  just  and  wise,  the  pure  and  free, 
A  father  he  was  and  is  to  me. 
Let  friends  now  rage  in  their  dark  hour, 
No  matter — he  is  beyond  their  power. 

"He's  free  !    He's  free  !  the  Prophet's  free  ! 
He  is  where  he  will  ever  be 


THE   RELIGIOUS    PUZZLE.  171 

Beyond  the  reach  of  mobs  and  strife. 

He  rests  unharmed,  in  endless  life  ; 

His  home's  in  the  sky,  he  dwells  with  the  gods, 

Far  from  the  furious  rage  of  mobs. 

He  died,  he  died  for  those  he  loved — 

He  reigns,  he  reigns  in  the  realms  above  ! 

He  waits  with  the  just  who  have  gone  before 

To  welcome  the  saints  to  Zion's  shore. 

Shout,  shout,  ye  Saints  !  this  boon  is  given — 

We'll  meet  our  martyred  seer  in  heaven." 

Thus  are  the  Mormon  children  early  taught  to  think 
of  Joseph  Smith  as  their  Saviour,  and  as -divine.  Brig- 
harn  Young,  too,  was  regarded  as  God  by  some  of  his 
followers  even  before  his  death  ;  and  no  doubt  before 
long,  when  they  forget  to  some  extent  his  misdeeds  that 
have  been  brought  to  light  since  his  death,  they  will 
deify  him  as  well  as  Joseph  Smith.  Indeed,  they  teach 
that  all  Mormons  may,  by  obedience  and  holiness,  become 
gods  in  the  celestial  world,  and  people  and  rule  a  king- 
dom forever.  Helped  by  polygamy,  men  may  become 
makers  of  worlds  like  this,  of  which  Adam  was  the 
fashioner  ;  and  in  those  worlds  their  posterity  become 
the  creatures  over  whom  they  bear  sway. 

3.  Another  doctrine  is  The  Pre-existence  of  Souls. 

All  men  lived  before  they  were  born.  They  existed 
for  ages  as  spirits,  waiting  eagerly  for  fleshly  tabernacles  ; 
and  multitudes  of  these  spirits  are  now  waiting,  desir- 
ing to  come  to  earth  ;  for  it  is  only  by  the  way  of  the 
flesh  that  they  can  reach  the  final  bliss  of  their  perfected 
being,  and  therefore  it  is  a  work  of  great  benevolence  to 
provide  earthly  bodies  into  which  they  may  come  to 
dwell. 

4:.  The  Doctrine  of  Polygamy  springs  naturally  out  of 
the  two  preceding  doctrines.  In  the  "  Book  of  Mormon" 
this  practice  was  forbidden  ;  and  in  the  earlier  revela- 


172  THE   MORMON    PUZZLE. 

tions  of  Joseph  Smith  it  was  distinctly  condemned  ;  but 
it  was  sanctioned  in  a  revelation  claimed  to  have  been 
given  to  him  at  Nauvoo,  July  12th,  1843,  although  it 
was  not  promulgated  until  the  fall  of  1852  in  Salt  Lake 
City  by  Brigham  Young.  This  doctrine  is  a  necessary 
sequence  of  their  ideas  with  regard  to  the  celestial  world 
and  the  pre-existent  life  of  the  human  soul.  Mr.  Pratt, 
in  one  of  his  sermons,  says  :  "  The  spirit  that  dwells  in 
each  man  and  woman  is,  I  venture  to  say,  more  than 
five  thousand  years  old.  The  Lord  has  ordained  that 
these  spirits  should  come  here  and  take  tabernacles  by  a 
certain  law  and  through  a  certain  channel  ;  and  that 
law  is  the  law  of  marriage.  The  Lord  ordained  mar- 
riage on  this  globe  between  Adam  and  Eve  as  eternal  in 
its  nature  ;  hence  we  believe  in  marrying  for  eternity. 
Among  these  spirits  in  the  heavens  are  many  more 
noble,  more  intelligent,  that  were  called  the  great  and 
mighty  ones,  who  were  reserved  till  the  fulness  of  time 
to  come  forth  upon  the  face  of  the  earth  through  a  noble 
parentage,  who  shall  train  their  tender  minds  in  the 
truths  of  eternity,  that  they  may  be  prophets,  priests, 
and  kings  to  the  Most  High  God.  Among  the  Saints  is 
the  most  likely  place  for  these  spirits  to  take  their  taber- 
nacles, to  be  trained  up  by  that  people  that  are  the  most 
righteous  of  any  other  people  upon  the  earth.  This  is 
the  reason  that  the  Lord  is  sending  them  here,  brethren 
and  sisters.  The  Lord  has  not  kept  them  in  reserve  for 
five  or  six  thousand  years,  waiting  for  their  bodies,  to 
send  them  to  the  Hottentots,  the  Hindoos,  or  the 
negroes,  but  to  the  Saints  of  Zion.  Then,  is  it  not  rea- 
sonable that  the  Lord  should  say  unto  his  faithful  and 
chosen  servants  :  '  Take  unto  yourselves  more  wives, 
that  more  of  these  noble  spirits  should  come  forth 
through  these  my  faithful  and  chosen  servants  '  ?" 


THE   RELIGIOUS   PUZZLE.  173 

Thus  do  the  Mormons  have  as  one  of  the  underlying 
principles  of  this  abominable  practice  one  of  the  grand- 
est sentiments  of  humanity — self -sacrifice  for  the  sake  of 
others.  It  is  that  sentiment  which  has  taken  hold  of  the 
Mormon  women  and  led  them  not  only  to  submit  in 
silence  to  what  is  entirely  counter  to  their  nature,  but 
even  to  choose  it  and  glory  in  it.  Brigham  Young  told 
his  people  often  that  the  world  was  rapidly  hastening  to 
a  close,  and  there  were  multitudes  of  spirits  waiting  for 
honorable  bodies.  The  Gentiles  were  corrupt,  and  the 
ethereal  spirits  were  waiting  anxiously  for  the  favors  of 
the  Mormons.  The  women,  he  said,  would  be  selfish  if 
they  could  not  endure  the  wandering  affections  of  their 
husbands.  It  was  their  duty  to  make  a  self-sacrifice. 
Jesus  had  given  His  life  to  redeem  ;  why  could  they 
not  help  to  save  ?  It  is  on  that  account  that  the  women 
of  Utah  have  made  the  sacrifice  of  the  most  vital  princi- 
ple of  their  souls. 

The  principle  which  has  led  the  Mormon  men  to  em- 
brace this  doctrine,  which  greatly  increases  their  earthly 
cares  and  burdens,  is  ambition.  In  heaven ,  they  will 
rule  over  their  posterity  ;  and,  consequently,  the  more 
wives  they  have,  and  the  greater  their  posterity,  the 
greater  will  be  their  rank  in  heaven.  Orson  Hyde,  in 
one  of  his  sermons,  said;  "  The  revelation  of  the  Al- 
mighty to  a  man  .  .  .  whom  God  designs  to  make 
a  ruler  and  a  governor  in  his  eternal  kingdom  is  that  he 
may  have  more  wives,  that  when  he  goes  to  another 
sphere  he  may  still  continue  to  perpetuate  his  species  ; 
and  of  his  kingdom  there  shall  be  no  end."  .  The  Mor- 
mons declare  that 'those  who  have  no  wives  are  the  ser- 
vants of  those  who  rule.  Therefore  the  object  of  the 
Mormon  men  in  embracing  polygamy,  as  they  them- 
selves set  forth,  is  to  raise  up  a  numerous  posterity  here 


174  THE   MORMON    PUZZLE. 

and  in  the  world  to  come,  that  they  may  be  exalted  to 
the  rank  of  "  gods  to  reign  upon  thrones."  They  be- 
lieve that  all  the  gods  have  many  wives,  and  they  rule 
over  their  descendants,  who  are  constantly  increasing  in 
number  and  dominion ;  and  in  accordance  with  that 
belief,  they  teach  that  Jesus  was  a  polygamist,  and  that 
Mary  and  Martha  were  his  plural  wives,  with  whom  he 
is  now  living  in  marriage  relations  in  the  celestial  world. 

5.  Another  doctrine  is  that  the  Latter-Day  Gospel 
must  be  preached  to  all  men.  Until  that  gospel  is  ac- 
cepted, none  can  be  saved  ;  and  so,  from  the  earliest 
days,  zeal  for  propagandism  has  been  a  marked  feature 
of  this  sect.  At  the  very  soonest  the  world  must  be 
conquered  by  this  gospel.  This  has  from  the  first  been 
their  fixed  design,  and  about  three  hundred  missionaries 
are  always  in  the  field.  The  order  is  :  first,  offer  salva- 
tion to  the  Gentiles  till  the  Lord  proclaims  that  their 
opportunity  is  past,  and  then  turn  to  the  Jews.  More- 
over, they  believe  there  is  need  for  hot  haste  ;  for  these 
are  the  latter  days,  and  the  dread  second  coming  of  the 
Son  of  God  is  at  hand.  Many  of  the  devout  Mormons 
believe  that  when  the  great  temple  in  Salt  Lake  City  is 
finished,  the  Lord  Jesus  will  descend  to  earth  and  reign 
with  His  Saints  for  a  thousand  years. 

But  not  only  can  none  be  saved  until  the  Mormon 
gospel  is  accepted  ;  neither  can  any  be  condemned  till  it 
has  been  heard  and  rejected  by  him.  And  so,  not  only 
must  the  living  hear  the  Latter-Day  Gospel,  but  the 
same  proclamation  must  be  made  through  all  the  bounds 
of  the  great  gathering-place  of  the  dead.  To  these 
"  spirits  in  prison,"  whose  sad  misfortune  it  was  to  die 
before  the  Hill  of  Cummorah  gave  up  its  golden  plates 
to  the  great  Prophet,  must  be  made  the  offer  of  faith  and 
baptism.  Hence,  when  Mormon  missionaries  die  they 


THE    RELIGIOUS    PUZZLE.  175 

go  on  preaching  just  as  before — so  great  is  the  task,  so 
distant  the  goal,  set  before  this  peculiar  people. 

6.  They   also   believe   in    Baptismal   Regeneration. 
They  bless  little  children,  but  baptize  none  under  the 
age  of  eight.     They  practice  the  mode  of  immersion, 
and  they  teach  that  it  is  able  to  wash  away  sins,  and  that 
it  may  be  repeated  for  the  remission  of  sins  whenever  it 
is  needed.     Consequently,  when  any  of  the  Saints  fall 
into  heinous  sins,  they  are  taught  that  those  sins  can  be 
washed  away  by  their  being  rebaptized. 

7.  They  also  believe  \v^  Baptism  for  the  Dead.     They 
base  this  doctrine  on  Paul's  statement  in  the  fifteenth 
chapter  of  the  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians.     They 
claim  that  since  three  things  are  essential  to  salvation — 
faith,   repentance,   and  baptism — and  the  latter  is  not 
possible  in  the  world  of  spirits,  one  in  order  to  be  saved 
after  death  must  be  baptized  by  proxy — i.e.,  some  Saint 
on  earth  must  be  immersed  in  his  behalf.     It  is  claimed 
that  here  Mormonism  is  most  unique,  and  performs  its 
noblest  service  to  the  race.     In  this  way  the  Mormons 
save  their  ancestors  from  everlasting  punishment,  and 
bring  their  souls  within  Zion  ;  and  this  service  is  ex- 
tended beyond  relatives,  too,  and  is  given  to  the  heroes 
and  heroines  of  history.     Washington,    Franklin,   and 
other  famous  men   have  thus  been  vicariously  baptized 
into  the  Mormon  Church.     A  writer  on  Mormonism  has 
well  said  :  "In  fact,  no  one  is  safe  from  the  clutches  of 
Mormonism  after  death.     You  may  be- made  a  Mormon 
without  desiring  it  for  all  eternity." 

It  is  said  that  in  the  summer  of  1884  a  wealthy  Mor- 
mon, while  on  a  visit  to  Boston,  employed  a  young  lady 
to  look  up  his  genealogy.  Having  learned  the  names  of 
about  two  hundred  of  his  ancestors,  he  had  the  rite  of 
baptism  performed  for  them  all.  And  it  is  related 


176  THE   MORMON    PUZZLE. 

that  an  old  man,  long  a  convert  to  Mormonism,  residing 
in  the  southern  part  of  Utah,  went  thirty  miles  dis- 
tant to  a  place  where  the  Saints  were  in  conference 
for  the  purpose  of  saving  nearly  one  hundred  of  his 
ancestors  from  everlasting  destruction  by  being  baptized 
for  them.  He  made  the  journey  in  an  ox-cart  with 
his  two  sons.  The  baptism,  of  course,  was  immersion 
in  a  river ;  and  the  old  man  was  dipped  as  many 
times  as  he  could  stand  the  operation,  each  dip  repre- 
senting an  entrance  into  the  Mormon  paradise  for  some 
one  of  the  otherwise  lost  hundred  of  his  forefathers  ; 
and  then  his  sons  in  turn  were  baptized,  until  the  object 
of  their  visit  was  fully  accomplished. 

8.  Another  doctrine  is  that  a  priesthood  duly  author- 
ized by  God  is  absolutely  essential  to  salvation.  With- 
out this  no  sacrament  or  rite  is  acceptable  to  God  or  of 
value  to  men.  It  is  only  through  their  preaching  that 
sinners  can  repent  and  believe  ;  and  the  remission  of 
sins  follows  baptism  only  when  priestly  hands  admin- 
ister it ;  and  this  authority  comes  by  no  fancied  apos- 
tolical succession,  but  from  Joseph  Smith  as  the  sole 
source.  Before  him  for  a  thousand  years  there  was  no 
authority,  and  to-day  all  is  illegitimate  outside  the  M.or- 
mon  Church. 

There  are  two  classes  of  priesthood  :  The  Melcliizedek 
and  the  Aaronic.  The  Melcliizedek  priesthood  is  the 
higher  branch,  having  special  reference  to  spiritual 
affairs,  while  the  Aaronic  priesthood  has  most  to  do  with 
the  temporal  interests  of  the  Church.  Both  of  these 
branches  are  obtained  through  Joseph  Smith,  who  re- 
ceived his  ordination  in  a  supernatural  manner.  Ac- 
cording to  Mormon  authority,  an  angelic  messenger, 
calling  himself  John  the  Baptist,  met  him  in  the  woods 
of  New  York,  May  15th,  1829,  and  ordained  him  to  the 


THE    RELIGIOUS    PUZZLE.  177 

Aaronic  priesthood ;  and  soon  after,  it  is  claimed,  he 
received  his  ordination  to  the  Melchizedek  priesthood  at 
the  hands  of  the  apostles  Peter,  James,  and  John. 

The  Aaronic  priesthood  includes  (beginning  with  the 
lowest)  the  offices  of  deacon,  teacher,  priest,  and  bishop. 
The  Melchizedek  priesthood  includes  the  offices  of  elder, 
high-priest,  patriarch,  seventy,  and  apostle.  A  worse 
despotism  than  is  exercised  over  the  people  by  this 
priesthood  cannot  be  found  on  earth.  Claiming  to  have 
the  keys  of  heaven  and  hell,  and  to  have  its  authority 
directly  from  the  Lord,  it  wields  absolute  power,  not 
only  in  spiritual  but  in  all  temporal  affairs. 

9.  Another  peculiar  doctrine  is  with  reference  to  En- 
dowments. To  get  one's  endowments  constitutes  one  of 
the  most  exalted  privileges  and  ambitions  of  the  devout 
Mormon.  These  can  be  had  only  in  Utah  and  in  con- 
nection with  the  temples,  although  in  Salt  Lake  City, 
where  as  yet  the  temple  is  unfinished,  the  Endowment 
House  is  used.  After  divers  washings  and  anointings 
and  rubbings,  the  acting  of  an  historic  drama,  the  tak- 
ing of  oaths  and  grips,  and  the  giving  of  a  new  name, 
celestial  wisdom  and  joy  are  supposed  to  descend  and 
forever  rest  upon  the  favored  soul.  Secret  marriage 
rites,  which  seal  husband  and  wife  for  time  and  eternity, 
form  part  of  the  ceremony. 

In  that  hour,  also,  is  put  on  the  "  endowment  robe," 
a  garment  reaching  from  head  to  foot,  and  made  all  in 
one  piece,  high-necked  and  with  long  sleeves.  This  robe 
is  said  to  be  a  sure  defence  against  the  adversary  and  all 
physical  ills.  One  must  never  be  caught  without  it ; 
but  if,  living  and  dying,  he  wears  "that  garment,  and 
remembers  the  grips  and  his  celestial  name,  he  is  sure  of 
heaven  whatever  may  befall  him. 

The  rites  of  the  Endowment  House  are  said  to  be  a 


178  THE    MORMON    PUZZLE. 

kind  of  bastard  Masonry,  instituted  by  Joseph  Smith  at 
!Nauvoo.  A  remarkable  resemblance  has  been  pointed 
out  between  the  ancient  Eleusinian  Mysteries  and  the 
mysteries  of  the  Endowment  House  as  they  are  repre- 
sented by  some  of  the  historians  of  Mormonism.  Their 
object,  according  to  Brigham  Young,  is  "  to  receive  all 
those  ordinances  in  the  house  of  the  Lord  which  are 
necessary  for  you,  after  you  have  departed  this  life,  to 
enable  you  to  walk  back  to  the  presence  of  the  Father, 
passing  the  angels,  who  stand  as  sentinels,  being  enabled 
to  give  them  the  key- words,  the  signs  and  tokens  per- 
taining to  the  holy  priesthood,  and  gain  your  eternal  ex- 
altation in  spite  of  earth  and  hell." 

10.  Another  doctrine,  which  is  peculiarly  a  Mormon 
doctrine,  and  the  most  horrible  doctrine  ever  taught  by 
their  leaders,  is  the  doctrine  of  Blood  Atonement. 

According  to  this  doctrine  there  are  some  sins  which 
cannot  be  forgiven  or  atoned  for  except  by  cutting  the 
throat  of  the  man  who  committed  them  and  pouring  out 
his  blood  as  an  atonement.  Three  of  these  sins  are 
apostasy,  disclosing  the  secrets  of  the  Endowment  House, 
and  marital  unfaithfulness  on  the  part  of  a  wife. 

This  doctrine  has  been  frequently  taught  by  the  lead- 
ers of  the  Church,  who  have  declared  that  it  is  a 
meritorious  act  for  any  Saint  to  spill  the  blood  of  a 
person  guilty  of  any  of  these  sins,  and  that  he  would 
thereby  be  carrying  out  the  golden  rule  of  love.  Thus, 
Brigham  Young,  in  a  sermon,  delivered  in  the  Bowery  at 
Salt  Lake  City,  September  21st,  1856,  said  :  "  There  are 
sins  that  men  commit  for  which  they  cannot  receive  for- 
giveness in  this  world  or  in  that  which  is  to  come,  and  if 
they  had  their  eyes  open  to  see  their  true  condition  they 
would  be  perfectly  willing  to  have  their  blood  spilled 
upon  the  ground,  that  the  sinoke  thereof  might  ascend 


THE    RELIGIOUS    PUZZLE.  179 

to  heaven  as  an  offering  for  their  sins  ;  and  the  smoking 
incense  would  atone  for  their  sins,  whereas,  if  such  is 
not  the  case,  they  will  stick  to  them  and  remain  upon 
them  in  the  spirit  world. 

u  I  know  when  you  hear  my  brethren  telling  about 
cutting  people  off  from  the  earth  that  you  consider  it 
strong  doctrine  ;  but  it  is  to  save  them,  not  to  destroy 
them." 

And  in  another  discourse,  delivered  in  the  Tabernacle 
of  Salt  Lake  City,  February  8th,  1857,  Brigham  Young 
said  :  "  1  have  known  a  great  many  men  who  have  left 
this  Church,  for  whom  there  is  no  chance  whatever  for 
exaltation  ;  but  if  their  blood  had  been  spilled,  it  would 
have  been  better  for  them.  This  is  loving  our  neighbor 
as  ourselves  ;  if  he  needs  help,  help  him  ;  and  if  he 
wants  salvation,  and  it  is  necessary  to  spill  his  blood  on 
the  earth  in  order  that  he  may  be  saved,  spill  it.  Any 
of  you  who  understand  the  principles  of  eternity,  if  you 
have  sinned  a  sin  requiring  the  shedding  of  blood,  except 
the  sin  unto  death,  would  not  be  satisfied  nor  rest  until 
your  blood  should  be  spilled,  that  you  might  gain  that 
salvation  you  desire.  This  is  the  way  to  love  man- 
kind." 

Bat  although  this  horrible  doctrine  has  been  publicly 
preached  again  and  again,  yet  many  of  the  Mormons 
deny  that  it  was  ever  carried  into  actual  practice.  The 
editor  of  the  Deseret  News,  one  of  the  Mormon  leaders, 
not  long  ago  denied  that  blood  atonement  had  ever  been 
practised  among  the  Mormons,  but  he  said  "  in  the  good 
time  coming  it  will  be."  On  the  other  hand,  it  is 
claimed  by  many  Gentiles  that  not  only  has  it  been  put 
into  practice  frequently  in  past  years,  bnt  that  it  is  actu- 
ally done  at  the  present  time.  A  Gentile  observer,  after 
several  months'  residence  in  Salt  Lake  City  in  1884, 


180  THE   MORMON   PUZZLE. 

wrote  :  "  As  to  the  blood  atonement,  which  Mormons 
generally  deny,  you  may  be  sure  it  is  still  practised." 

After  a  careful  study  of  the  facts  in  the  case,  it  seems 
to  be  clear  that  the  evidence  is  overwhelming  in  sub- 
stantiation of  the  declaration  that  it  was  of  ten  practised 
in  the  past  /  and  it  seems  to  be  equally  clear  that, 
while  it  may  be  the  fact  that  this  abominable  practice  is 
still  carried  on,  only  more  adroitly  than  formerly,  yet 
the  mass  of  evidence  is  overwhelming  in  opposition  to 
that  view  arid  in  favor  of  the  opinion  that  the  incoming 
of  thousands  of  Gentiles  and  Federal  officers  have  effect- 
ually stopped  the  practice  of  that  barbarous  doctrine. 
Nevertheless,  it  remains  one  of  their  doctrines. 

11.  Another  Mormon  doctrine,  and  one  of  which 
much  is  made,  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Fulness  of  Times. 
The  Mormons  claim  that  whatever  good  thing  in  doc- 
trine and  practice  has  ever  existed  in  the  world  under 
former  dispensations  has  been  restored  in  these  last  days  ; 
and  so  to  the  Latter-Day  Saints  have  come  all  the  bless- 
ings of  all  past  ages,  especially  the  priesthood,  polygamy, 
and  all  the  offices  and  gifts  of  the  days  of  the  apostles. 
They  believe  the  day  of  miracles  has  not  ceased,  but  that 
many  such  have  been  wrought,  especially  healings  of 
the  sick,  in  the  latter-day  dispensation.  They  believe, 
also,  in  giving  one  tenth  of  their  income  and  increase  for 
the  building  of  the  temples  and  the  progress  of  the 
Church. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

*  9 

THE  RELIGIOUS  PUZZLE  (continued). 

Professor  Coyner's  analysis  of  Mormonism — Rev.  Dr.  McNiece's  analy- 
sis— Reasons  for  the  growth  and  tenacity  of  Mormonism — The 
Christian  element  its  chief  source  of  strength — No  Mormon  con- 
verts from  heathenism — Protestantism  the  source  of  its  recruits — 
Bible  doctrines  in  the  Mormon  "  Catechism  for  Children" — The 
Mormon  Articles  of  Faith — The  Mormon  heresy  compared  with 
Gnosticism  in  the  early  Christian  Church— A  clue  to  the  solution 
of  the  religious  puzzle. 

FROM  the  enumeration  of  some  of  the  prominent  and 
peculiar  doctrines  of  Mormonism  which  was  given  in 
the  preceding  chapter,  it  can  very  clearly  be  seen  that  it 
is  naught  else  than  a  jumble  of  a  half  dozen  different 
systems  of  religion. 

Professor  Coyner^  Principal  of  the  Salt  Lake  Collegi- 
ate Institute  for  ten  years,  has  analyzed  it  as  follows  : 
u  Mormonism  is  made  of  twenty  parts.  Take  eight  parts 
of  diabolism,  three  parts  of  animalism  from  the  Moham- 
medan system,  one  part  bigotry  from  old  Judaism,  four 
parts  cunning  and  treachery  from  Jesuitism,  two  parts 
Thugism  from  India,  and  two  parts  Arnoldism,  and  then 
shake  the  mixture  over  the  fires  of  animal  passion  and 
throw  in  the  forms  and  ceremonies  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion, and  you  will  have  this  system  in  its  true  compo- 
nent elements."  But,  subtle  as  that  analysis  is,  it  can- 
not be  true  ;  for  it  does  not  include  in  the  system,  as 
even  one  of  its  twenty  parts,  Christianity  ;  and  yet  it 
seems  to  me  that  it  is  the  Christian  element  in  the  sys- 


182  THE   MORMON    PUZZLE. 

tern  which,  mingled  with  a  great  deal  of  error,  gives  it 
its  real  strength. 

The  analysis  given  by  JRev.  Dr.  JR.  G.  McNiece,  of 
Salt  Lake  City,  in  the  Presbyterian  Review,  April,  1881, 
seems  to  be  more  correct,  and  about  as  near  the  real 
truth  as  any  one,  perhaps,  can  come.  He  sav^s  :  "  Let 
Paganism,  Judaism,  Mohammedanism,  Jesuitism,  Prot- 
estantism, and  Diabolism  be  shaken  up  together,  and 
the  result  is  Mormonism  ;  for  from  Paganism  comes  its 
idea  of  God  ;  from  Judaism  its  theory  of  the  priesthood 
and  special  revelation  ;  from  Mohammedanism  its  plural 
wife  notions,  and  its  sensual  ideas  of  heaven  ;  from 
Jesuitism  its  cunning  and  arbitrary  form  of  government, 
in  which  the  end  is  continually  made  to  justify  the 
means  ;  from  Protestantism  its  talk  about  faith  in  Christ 
and  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  and  its  general 
policy  from  the  devil,  as  any  intelligent  man  will  have 
to  confess  after  a  careful  study  of  its  cunning,  devilish 
ways  and  means."  From  this  analysis  it  is  seen  that  its 
great  strength  lies  in  the  shrewd  way  in  which  it  has 
blended  Christian  truth  with  .heathen  error. 

The  reasons  of  its  growth  and  tenacity  are  many.  It 
is  especially  adapted  to  the  intellectual  capacities  of  the 
masses.  To  these  are  offered  just  what  they  are  sure 
to  hunger  after — bold  assumption  and  boundless  asser- 
tion, together  with  great  show  of  authority.  For  the 
superstitious  it  has  miracles,  ecstasies,  visions,  and  reve- 
lations. The  secrecy  of  the  endowments,  too,  has  a 
charm.  The  minds  of  the  ignorant  delight  in  prodigies. 
u  Omne  ignotum,  pro  mirifico."  For  the  lovers  of 
prophecy  there  is  promised  the  New  Jerusalem,  an 
actual  reign  of  the  Saints,  and  an  equality  with  the  Ke- 
deemer.  The  gross  see  charms  in  its  sensual  paradise, 
and  listen  eagerly  to  the  announcement  that  a  con  versa- 


THE    RELIGIOUS    PUZZLE.  183 

tion  with  their  spiritual  ruler,  or  a  journey  on  a  mission' 
while  facing  a  frowning  world,  will  immediately  clear 
them  from  their  iniquities.     These  are  all  elements  in 
the  system,  which  have  led  to  its  growth,  and  now  keep 
it  from  falling  to  pieces. 

But  its  chief  source  of  strength  is  its  recognition  of 
many  of  the  truths  of  the  Bible.  If  its  strength  came 
from  its  heathenish  doctrines  and  practices,  then  it  would 
naturally  follow  that  its  converts  would  be  gathered 
mainly  from  heathendom,  whereas  ninety-nine  proselytes 
in  every  hundred  have  been  obtained  from  Christian 
churches. 

About  thirty  years  ago  swarms  of  Mormon  missionaries 
were  sent  to  China,  Japan,  India,  Australia,  South 
Africa,  South  America,  and  the  Society  and  Sandwich 
Islands,  and  they  fondly  hoped  that  many  converts 
would  be  gathered  ;  but  in  less  than  five  years  they  had 
all  returned,  completely  baffled  and  disgusted.  They  re- 
ported that  the  devil  was  far  too  lively  in  those  lands,  and 
that,  among  the  Hindoos  especially,  stupidity  and  awful 
depravity  were  universal.  Since  then  we  hear  of  no 
more  attempts  to  evangelize  the  pagan  world.  A  few 
hundred  Sandwich  Islanders  and  New  Zealanders  have 
been  baptized,  but  only  after  American  and  English  mis- 
sionaries had  first  brought  them  to  a  knowledge  of  Gos- 
pel truth. 

And  it  is  said  that  no  Roman  Catholic  has  ever  been 
brought  into  the  Mormon  fold,  Protestantism  furnishing 
Morrnonism  its  entire  supplies.  Yes,  the  fact  is  that 
Mormonism  has  grown  in  strength  and  power  by  the  ad- 
dition of  those  once  members  of  Protestant  Christian 
churches,  or  those  very  near  the  entrance.  Perhaps 
eight  out  of  every  ten  who  have  come  to  Utah  were  of 
that  class  ;  and  it  cannot  well  be  questioned  that  hun- 


184  THE   MORMON    PUZZLE. 

dreds  of  so-called  Mormons,  though  laboring  under  a 
great  delusion  and  greatly  misled  by  the  hierarchy,  are 
still  sincere  believers  in  Christ  and  His  Gospel.  Kev. 
Dr.  McNiece  says  in  the  Presbyterian  Review,  April, 
1881  :  "  It  is  only  just  to  say  that  scattered  all  through 
the  Mormon  ranks  are  hundreds  of  devout,  worthy,  kind- 
hearted,  hospitable  people,  who  came  from  England, 
Scotland,  and  the  Scandinavian  countries,  bringing  their 
Bibles  and  Christian  sentiments  with  them,  and  who,  al- 
though nominally  Mormons,  have  never  been  persuaded 
to  embrace  these  odious  pagan  doctrines,  which  are  the 
distinctive  features  of  Mormonism." 

Besides,  the  Mormons  believe  in  the  Old  and  JSTew 
Testaments  as  inspired,  and  in  the  "  Book  of  Mormon" 
itself  there  is  much  that  is  taken  directly  from  the  Bible 
— as  the  Decalogue,  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  and  other 
teachings  of  our  Lord  ;  and  in  their  "  Catechism  for 
Children,"  published  in  1877,  one  finds  mingled  with 
many  false  teachings  such  sound  biblical  propositions  as 
these  :  that  our  first  parents,  having  fallen  under  the 
influence  of  Satan,  "  had  not  the  least  power  to  recover 
themselves  from  the  effects  of  that  fall ;"  that  in  this 
condition  "  the  justice  of  God  required  a  sacrifice  to 
atone  for  the  broken  law,  and  our  first  parents  being 
subject,  through  transgression,  to  the  penalty  of  the  law, 
could  not  make  this  sacrifice  ;"  that  to  meet  such  a  state 
of  things,  "  God  sent  His  only  begotten  Son,  who  knew 
no  sin,  to  die  for  the  sins  of  the  world,  and  thus  to  sat- 
isfy divine  justice  ;"  that  "  this  redemption  by  Jesus 
Christ  is  the  only  one,"  and  that  it  is  available  to  all 
mankind,  u  but  only  on  conditions  of  obedience  ;"  that 
these  conditions  are  "  as  unchangeable  as  their  Author," 
and  include  faith,  which  is  described  as  u  a  principle  of 
power"  within  the  soul,  and  repentance,  which  is  defined 


THE    RELIGIOUS    PUZZLE.  185 

as  a  "  forsaking  of  sin,  with  full  purpose  of  heart  to  work 
righteousness  ;"  and  that  even  little  children  are  "  con- 
sidered sinners  in  the  sight  of  God,"  and  as  such  are 
"  redeemed  solely  through  the  atonement  of  Christ,'' 
and  are  therefore  to  be  taught  to  repent  and  believe. 

In  reading  such  statements,  and  seeing  them  corrob- 
orated continually  by  quotations  from  Scripture,  it  is 
not  hard  to  imagine  ourselves  studying  the  catechism  of 
some  Christian  sect,  differing  from  other  sects  in  detail 
and  expression,  but  agreeing  with  them  in  the  essentials 
of  the  common  Christianity.  How  far  such  truths  are 
proclaimed  by  the  Mormon  teachers  and  missionaries,  or 
how  far  they  still  remain  as  vital  convictions  in  the  breasts 
of  thousands  who  once  professed  them  in  other  com- 
munions, or  who  have  been  taught  them  catechetically  in 
the  Mormon  fold,  it  is  very  difficult  to  determine. 

In  the  Mormon  Articles  of  Faith  there  is  very  little 
but  what  could  be  subscribed  to  by  some  Christian 
denomination.  It  is  presumed  that  these  Articles  com- 
prise all  the  essential  beliefs  of  Mormonism.  They  are 
what  their  missionaries  constantly  teach,  and  what  the 
Mormons  always  give  forth  as  their  creed.  They  are 
just  one  third  the  number  of  the  Thirty- nine  Articles  of 
the  Church  of  England.  They  are  as  follows  : 

"  1.  We  believe  in  God,  the  Eternal  Father,  and  in 
His  Son,  Jesus  Christ,  and  in  the  Holy  Ghost. 

"  2.  We  believe  that  men  will  be  punished  for  their 
own  sins,  and  not  for  Adam's  transgression. 

"  3.  We  believe  that,  through  the  atonement  of 
Christ,  all  mankind  may  be  saved,  by  obedience  to  the 
laws  and  ordinances  of  the  Gospel. 

"  4.  We  believe  that  these  ordinances  are  :  First,  faith 
in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ;  second,  repentance  ;  third, 
baptism  by  immersion  for  the  remission  of  sins ; 


186  THE    MORMON    PUZZLE. 

fourth,  laying  on  of  hands  for  the  gift  of  the  Holy 
Ghost. 

"  5.  We  believe  that  a  man  must  be  called  of  God  by 
(  prophecy  and  by  the  laying  on  of  hands  '  by  those 
who  are  in  authority  to  preach  the  Gospel  and  admftiister 
the  ordinances  thereof. 

11  6.  We  believe  in  the  same  organization  that  exists 
in  the  Primitive  Church — viz.:  apostles,  prophets,  teach- 
ers, evangelists,  etc. 

"  7.  We  believe  in  the  gift  of  tongues,  prophecy, 
revelation,  visions,  healing,  interpretation  of  tongues, 
etc. 

"  8.  We  believe  the  Bible  to  be  the  Word  of  God,  as 
far  as  it  is  translated  correctly  ;  we  also  believe  the  ( Book 
of  Mormon '  to  be  the  Word  of  God. 

"  9.  We  believe  all  that  God  has  revealed,  all  that  He 
does  now  reveal,  and  we  believe  that  He  will  yet  reveal 
many  great  and  important  things  pertaining  to  the  king- 
dom of  God. 

"  10.  We  believe  in  the  literal  gathering  of  Israel,  and 
in  the  restoration  of  the  Ten  Tribes  ;  that  Zion  will  be 
built  upon  this  continent  ;  that  Christ  will  reign  person- 
ally upon  this  earth,  and  that  the  earth  will  be  renewed 
and  receive  its  paradisic  glory.. 

"11.  We  claim  the  privilege  of  worshipping  Al- 
mighty God  according  to  the  dictates  of  our  conscience, 
and  allow  all  men  the  same  privilege  ;  let  them  worship 
how,  when,  or  where  they  will. 

"  12.  We  believe  in  being  subject  to  kings,  presidents, 
rulers,  and  magistrates  ;  in  obeying,  honoring,  and 
sustaining  the  law. 

"  13.  We  belie  vein  being  honest,  true,  chaste,  benevo- 
lent, virtuous,  and  in  doing  good  to  all  men  ;  indeed, 
we  say  that  we  follow  the  admonition  of  Paul :  '  We 


THE   RELIGIOUS    PUZZLE.  187 

* 

believe  all  things  ;  we  hope  all  things  ;  '  we  have  en- 
dured many  things,  and  hope  to  endure  all  things.  If 
there  is  anything  virtuous,  lovely,  or  of  good  report,  or 
praiseworthy,  we  seek  after  these  things." 

The  fact  is,  that  this  nineteenth  century  heresy  bears 
much  the  same  relation  to  the  Gospel  of  to-day  that 
Gnosticism,  Montanism,  and  Manicheism  did  to  that  of 
the  early  centuries  On  the  true  foundation  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments,  it  has  built  a  structure  of  wood, 
hay,  and  stubble.  "  To  the  law  and  the  testimony,"  is 
the  constant  cry.  Argument  is  based  almost  entirely 
upon  the  Bible.  Proof -texts  are  quoted  by  the  thousand. 

Our  object  in  directing  attention  to  the  Christian  ele- 
ment in  Mormonism  is  not  to  furnish  apology  or  to  divert 
attention  from  its  fearful  errors  ;  but  it  is  mentioned 
because  it  furnishes  a  decided  clue  to  the  vitality  and 
persistency  of  the  system,  and  also  opens  our  eyes  as  to 
the  best  way  to  solve  the  religious  puzzle  which  this  sys- 
tem presents  before  us.  The  great  question  to  be  an- 
swered is  :  How  are  we  to  get  rid  of  the  erroneous  doc- 
trines of  Mormonism  f 


CHAPTEK  XY. 

THE  RELIGIOUS  PUZZLE  (concluded). 

The  character  of  efforts  hitherto  put  forth  to  solve  the  puzzle — What 
has  been  accomplished — The  plan  somewhere  defective — Mormon- 
ism  to  be  reformed,  not  destroyed — Why  Mormons  will  not  listen 
to  Christian  missionaries — Moody  and  Sankey's  meetings  in  Salt 
Lake  City—  The  Deseret  -Evening  News  on  Bishop  Tuttle's  sermon — 
Mormonism  a  perversion  of  Christianity — The  educational  and 
colonization  scheme  best  fitted  to  reform  it — Proved  by  comparing 
Koman  Catholicism  in  the  United  States  with  Koman  Catholicism 
in  Mexico  or  Brazil — The  probable  effect  of  a  larger  intelligence — 
The  probable  effect  of  the  introduction  of  Gentile  colonies — The 
religious  puzzle  solved — The  duty  of  the  hour. 

HITHERTO  the  efforts  which  have  been  put  forth  against 
Mormonism  as  a  religious  system  have  been  the  same  in 
character  as  when  contending  with  Buddhism,  Confu- 
cianism, or  any  other  pagan  religion.  And  what  has 
been  accomplished  f 

It  is  not  our  desire  to  depreciate  what  has  been  done 
in  Utah  by  the  noble  Christian  men  and  women  who  have 
faced  the  insults  of  men  and  sometimes  death  itself  in 
battling  with  the  errors  of  Mormonism.  They  are  Chris- 
tian heroes  and  heroines,  and  are  deserving  of  all  praise 
and  honor.  They  are  worthy  to  receive  crowns  and 
laurels  that  can  never  fade.  Bat  their  sterling  worth 
and  Christian  heroism  do  not  alter  the  facts  concerning 
the  visible  results  of  their  labors.  It  is  true  that  nearly 
twenty  years  elapsed  after  the  occupation  of  Salt  Lake 
Yalley  by  the  Mormons  before  any  attempt  was  made 
to  introduce  the  Gospel.  It  was  only  by  the  occupation 


THE    RELIGIOUS   PUZZLE.  189 

of  Carap  Douglas,  in  1862,  by  several  regiments  of 
United  States  troops  that  the  way  began  to  be  opened  ; 
and  only  since  1865  has  there  been  any  missionary  work 
done  in  the  Territory.  But  in  the  twenty  years  of 
missionary  work  what  has  been  accomplished  ?  How 
many  converts  from  Mormonism  have  been  obtained  'i 

Eev.  R.  G.  McNiece,  D.D.,  of  Salt  Lake  City,  in  a 
personal  letter  to  the  writer,  said  :  "  The  number  of  con- 
verts directly  from  the  Mormon  ranks  I  cannot  give 
you  ;  but  it  is  very  small,  especially  among  adults. 
Among  the  youth  the  number  is  greater,  and  here  is 
where  the  hope  lies.  The  children  and  youth  come 
under  Christian  influence  first  in  the  day-schools  main- 
tained by  the  Christian  denominations.  In  the  Sabbath- 
school  this  influence  is  deepened,  and  thereby  the  way 
into  the  Church  is  opened.  I  should  say  that  THREE 

HUNDRED  WOULD  BE  A  LARGE  ESTIMATE  OF  THE  TOTAL  NUM- 
BER OF  CHRISTIAN  CONVERTS  FROM  THE  MORMON  RANKS  ; 
but  the  work  thus  far  has  been  preparatory." 

Now,  while  it  is  very  true  that  the  work  has  been  in 
great  measure  preparatory,  nevertheless  no  such  long 
preparation  as  twenty  years  should  be  necessary  in  deal- 
ing with  a  people  to  a  great  extent  speaking  our  own 
language.  If  it  were  China,  or  Japan,  or  India  just 
opened,  and  it  required  time  for  the  missionaries  to  get 
acquainted  with  the  habits  and  language  of  the  people, 
it  would  be  a  very  di  fife  rent  thing.  It  seems  from  the 
small  crop  of  Christian  converts  thus  far  obtained  that 
the  system  of  missionary  work  adopted  is  somewhere 
defective. 

And  does  not  the  fact  of  the  large  Christian  element 
in  the  Mormon  religious  system  show  that  it  must  not  be 
treated  as  a  pagan  religion  ?  and  that  different  methods 
must  be  adopted  to  overcome  its  evils  ?  All  missionary 


190  THE    MORMON   PUZZLE. 

labor  in  Utah  up  to  the  present  time  has  been  in  open 
and  direct  antagonism  to  the  whole  Mormon  system,  and 
its  object  has  been  openly  and  professedly  to  exterminate 
it  from  the  face  of  the  earth.  Now,  we  raise  the  ques- 
tion, Can  any  Christian  sect  be  easily  annihilated? 
Should  it  be  our  desire  to  exterminate  it  ?  Should  not 
the  object  of  all  our  efforts  be  to  reform  it — to  purge 
the  gold  of  its  dross  ?  And  so,  does  it  not  seem  far 
more  likely  that  Mormonism  is  not  to  be  destroyed  at 
all,  but  rather  reformed  by  various  influences  brought 
to  bear  upon  it  ? 

The  adult  Mormons  will  not  go  to  hear  the  Christian 
missionaries,  for  they  believe  that  all  that  is  good  in 
Christianity  they  have  already  in  their  own  system. 
The  only  difference  is  that  they  have  more  ;  they  have 
an  enlarged  and  expanded  Christianity.  Consequently 
they  think  their  system  is  vastly  superior  to  the  Chris- 
tian's. Mormon  boys  write  "  Come  to  Jesus"  on  the 
clean,  white  window-sills  of  Christian  chapels,  while 
their  parents  at  home  tell  them  that  they  know  a  hun- 
dredfold more  truth  than  the  Christians,  whose  whole 
creed,  they  say,  begins  and  ends  with  this  despised 
phrase. 

The  evangelists  Moody  and  Sankey  held  a  series  of 
meetings  in  Salt  Lake  City  only  a  few  years  ago,  and 
the  Deseret  Evening  News,  the  official  Mormon  organ, 
in  an  editorial  on  Moody1  s  preaching  in  that  city,  said  : 
"  There  is  not  a  man  among  the  whole  fraternity  of 
evangelists  who  can  present  anything  of  any  value  to 
the  Latter-Day  Saints  which  they  have  not  already  re- 
ceived ;  and  there  is  no  preacher  of  them  all  who,  if 
he  were  desirous  of  learning  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus, 
but  could  learn  very  many  valuable  lessons  in  the  things 
of  God  from  members  of  our  Young  People's  Improve- 


THE   RELIGIOUS   PUZZLE.  191 

ment  Associations,  and  even  from  our  Sunday-school 
children.  '  Believe  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ '  is  a  say- 
ing the  full  meaning  of  which  is  appreciated  by  the  Lat- 
ter-Day Saints.  To  exhort  them  to  '  faith  in  Christ '  is 
the  work  of  supererogation. " 

And  shortly  after,  the  same  paper,  in  an  editorial  on  a 
sermon  preached  by  Bishop  Tuttle,  of  the  Episcopal 
Church,  in  Philadelphia,  said  :  "  So  far  as  the  institu- 
tions of  modern  Christendom  are  concerned,  we  candidly 
confess  our  lack  of  confidence  in  their  power  to  do  any- 
thing for  us.  ...  We  have  got  so  far  beyond  them 
through  the  revelations  of  the  Almighty  vouchsafed  in 
these  latter  days,  that  we  look  back  upon  their  teachings 
as  a  man  reverts  to  the  alphabet  of  his  school -days,  and 
we  remember  their  powerless  forms  and  spiritless  cere- 
monies as  mere  playthings  compared  with  the  higher 
things  of  the  kingdom  to  which  the  system  they  call 
Mormonism  has  introduced  us." 

Thus  we  see  that  Christianity  is  discounted  by  the 
Mormons  from  the  very  start  ;  and  can  we,  then,  hope 
to  accomplish  its  overthrow  by  the  ordinary  means  ? 
From  its  peculiar  relations  to  Christianity,  must  we  not 
in  reason  and  fairness  regard  the  Mormon  Church,  as  we 
must  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  and  even  Mohamme- 
danism, as  being  not  utterly  false,  so  much  as  a  mingling 
of  error  with  truth  ?  It  is,  therefore,  a  perversion  of 
Christianity.  There  is  genuine  Gospel  enough  in  the 
Mormon  creed  to  save  it  from  the  grave.  We  are,  there- 
fore, to  look  for  a  repudiation  of  the  false  rather  than 
the  destruction  of  both  false  and  true  together. 

And  what  would  be  better  calculated  to  effect  this  end 
than  the  colonization  and  educational  scheme,  which  we 
have  already  advocated  as  the  surest  and  easiest  means 
to  overcome  the  political  and  social  evils  of  the  system  ? 


192  THE    MORMON    PUZZLE. 

The  Roman  Catholic  system  is  in  many  respects  similar 
to  the  Mormon  system  ;  and  see  what  intelligence  and 
a  surrounding  atmosphere  of  pure  Christian  truth  has 
done  for  Roman  Catholicism  in  our  land  !  What  a  vast 
difference  there  is  between  the  system  here  and  the  same 
system  in  Mexico,  Brazil,  Spain,  or  Italy  !  There  is  a 
difference  almost  as  wide  as  the  hemispheres.  Take  a 
Roman  Catholic  from  our  land  to  Brazil  or  Spain,  and 
he  will  scarcely  recognize  his  religion  in  that  religion 
called  there  by  the  same  name.  And  what  has  brought 
about  this  difference  ?  The  American  Roman  Catholic 
lias  been  surrounded  by  intelligence  and  a  free,  pure, 
Christian  society.  These  two  things  have  so  operated 
upon  American  Roman  Catholicism  as  to  greatly  reform 
it  and  almost  radically  change  it,  while  they  did  not  an- 
tagonize it  in  a  spirit  of  rancor.  How  wonderful  the 
revolution  !  And  it  has  not  ceased  yet,  but  is  ever  going 
on.  The  same  things  would  thus  be  done,  we  believe, 
for  Mormonism. 

1.  A  larger  intelligence  would  surely  modify  or  wholly 
set  aside  the  claims  of  the  priesthood  to  the  possession  of 
divine  authority  and  power,  and  would  relegate  to  the 
realm  of  oblivion  such  outlandish  doctrines  as  baptisms 
for  the  dead.     As   Froude  says,  "  Ignorance  is  the  do- 
minion of  absurdity." 

And,  from  the  same  cause,  the  demand  would  grad- 
ually spring  up  for  pulpit  teaching,  couched  in  afar  bet- 
ter spirit,  and  of  much  higher  intellectual  character.  The 
presence  of  a  few  intelligent  Gentiles  has  already  put  to 
shame  and  almost  banished  from  religious  assemblies  those 
harangues  which  in  days  not  very  remote  were  accus- 
tomed to  combine  in  about  equal  measure  the  profane, 
the  obscene,  and  the  brutal. 

2.  And,  then,  the  introduction  of  Gentile  colonists  in 


THE   RELIGIOUS   PUZZLE.  193 

large  numbers  would  naturally  increase  the  force  of 
effective  preaching  missionaries,  and  they  would  then 
be  supported,  not  by  the  churches  in  other  parts  of  our 
land,  but  by  the  Utah  colonists  themselves.  In  this  way 
we  would  have  more  'missionaries  at  less  expense,  and 
they  would  accomplish  more  in  the  end  than  an  aggres- 
sive force,  such  as  we  now  have,  though  it  were  increased 
tenfold. 

Then  the  Territory  would  be  fairly  flooded  with  Gos- 
pel institutions  of  every  sort.  In  every  Mormon  town 
there  would  be  a  school  and  a  church  ;  and  there  being 
in  every  community  a,  few  who  in  character  and  life 
would  be  truly  Christlike,  they,  aided  by  the  sharp  criti- 
cisms of  a  free  press,  would  cuttingly  and  most  effectually 
rebuke  the  seriously  lax  morals  of  the  Mormon  Church  ; 
and  before  long  it  would  be  found  to  be  politic  and  nec- 
essary in  sheer  self-defence  to  remove  from  Church  lead- 
ership whoever  in  walk  and  conversation  would  fail  to 
conform  to  what  is  at  least  decent. 

It  is  most  likely  that  in  this  way  the  better  elements 
in  Mormondom  would  be  led,  unconsciously  perhaps,  to 
assert  their  force,  and  work  out  through  grace  a  religious 
reformation.  The  leaven  of  revolt  is  slowly  working 
now.  It  is  well  known  that  many  Mormons  do  no* 
countenance  polygamy,  and  the  time  may  yet  e< 
when  this  view  shall  prevail,  notwithstanding  the  alkg 
revelations  in  the  case.  And  there  may  come  a  time 
when,  with  polygamy,  other  false  doctrines  will  be  ques- 
tioned or  rejected.  And  thus  reformed,  purified,  and 
made  fit  to  live,  we  may  expect  to  see  Mormonism  con- 
tinue for  generations  a  sect  fairly  Christian,  although  it 
would  doubtless  have  many  peculiar  points  ;  or  there 
may  come,  through  the  workings  of  the  Gospel  in  this 
subtle  way,  such  a  division  in  belief  among  the  Mor- 


194  THE  MORMOK  PUZZLE. 

raon  ranks  as  to  rend  asunder  the  entire  Mormon  organ- 
ism. 

To  this  work  of  internal  reformation  let  us  direct  our 
forces.  Let  the  Christians  of  our  land  arise  in  all  their 
might  and  endeavor  to  have  schools  planted  all  over  the 
Territory  of  Utah,  that  intelligence  and  freedom  may  be 
widely  disseminated  ;  and  let  them  form  Colonization 
Aid  Societies  to  induce  Christian  families  to  emigrate  to 
Utah,  and  settle  in  every  Mormon  town  and  hamlet. 
Through  the  faithful  representation  and  living  of  the 
Gospel  I  have  all  hope. 

In  strict  accord  with  this  belief,  Rev.  Arthur  T. 
Pierson,  D.D.,  pastor  of  the  Bethany  Church,  Phila- 
delphia, in  the  Homiletic  Review,  October,  1885,  said  : 
"  Salt  Lake  Yalley  needs  nothing  more  to-day  than 
colonies  of  Christian  tradesmen.  Mormonism  should  be 
confronted  with  the  witness  of  a  Christian  community, 
consecrated  workmen  in  all  the  learned  professions  and 
departments  of  industry  ;  Christian  families  free  from 
the  taint  of  polygamy  and  full  of  the  rich  blessing  of 
the  normal  household."  Likewise,  Judge  Osbornc,  of 
Utah,  wrote  recently  as  follows  :  u  An  excellent  way  to 
do  good  with  little  or  no  cost  would  be  the  location  of 
Christian  families  in  the  Mormon  towns.  .  .  .  The 
Mormon  priesthood  insist  upon  the  complete  isolation  of 
their  dupes  from  Christian  civilization.  They  say,  '  You 
must  live  your  religion  ;  '  they  obey,  and  the  result  is 
bitter  fruit.  Let  a  few  Christian  families  '  live  their  re- 
ligion '  in  their  presence,  an$  the  darkness  of  prejudice 
and  superstition  would  roll  away  like  the  mist  before  the 
morning  sun." 

Yes,  put  in  every  Mormon  town  a  few  noble  Christian 
families,  consecrated  men  and  women,  who  in  character 
and  life  shall  exhibit  the  sweet  spirit  of  the  Man  of  ISTaz- 


THE   RELIGIOUS   PUZZLE.  195 

areth,  who  by  example  and  precept  shall  show  a  more 
excellent  way,  and  presently  error  will  depart,  and  in- 
iquity hide  its  head  abashed.  Let  the  various  denomi- 
nations combine  and  co-operate  against  the  common  foe 
in  that  silent  yet  most  effective  way,  and  the  Mormon 
Puzzle  will  .be  solved,  and  solved  forever.  Let  us  all 
labor  to  this  end. 

"  O  Christ,  our  land  for  thee  ; 

Naught  less  we  crave, 
That  Thou  supreme  mayst  be 

From  wave  to  wave. 
Naught  less  we  ask  of  Thee, 
Our  prayer  unceasingly, 
Our  land  for  Thee, 
All,  all  for  Thee." 


THE   END. 


A  NEW  BOOK  B  Y  JO  SI  AH  ALLEN'S 
WIFE. 

SWEET  CICELY.- A  stop  of  the  Josiah  Allen's  Wife's  Series. 
Of  thrilling  intei  est.    Over  100  Illustrations,  12mo,  cloth,  $2.00. 

"  Josiah  Allen's  Wife  "  lias  always  been  a  shrewd  observer  of 
human  nature  as  it  reveals  itself  in  the  round  of  homely,  every 
day  life,  and  the  keen  sarcasm  and  adroit  humor  with  which 
she  lays  bear  its  fo.bles,  its  weaknesses  and  its  grotesque  out- 
croppinga  has  rarely,  if  ever,  been  equaled.  The  strong  feature 
of  all  Miss  Holley's  humor,  is  its  moral  tone.  The  present 
work  will  treat  the  "  temperance  sentiment "  in  new  phase- 
that  of  a  semi-humorous  novel. 

SOME  OPINIONS  OP  "  JOSIAH  ALLEN'S  WIFE  "  : 
The  Woman's  Journal,  Boston:  "The  keen  sarcasm,  cheerful 
wit  and  cogent  arguments  of  her  books  have  convinced  thous- 
ands of  the  'folly  of  their  ways,'  for  wit  can  pierce  where 
grave  counsel  fails." 

The  Herald,  New  York:  "  Her  fun  is  not  far-fetched ,  but  easy 
and  spontaneous.  She  is  now  witty,  now  pathetic,  yet  ever 
strikingly  original." 

The  Home  Journal,  New  York:  "  She  is  one  of  the  most  origi- 
nal humorists  of  the  day." 

The  New  Era,  Lancaster,  Pa.:  "Undoubtedly  one  or  the 
truest  humorists.  Nothing  short  of  a  cast-iron  man  can  resist 
the  exquisite,  droU  and  contagious  mirth  of  her  writings." 


FUNK  &  WAGNALLS,  xo-ia  Dey  Street,  New  York. 


ARCHIBALD  MALMAISON. 

A  New  Novel.     By  JULIAN  HAWTHORNE.     121110,  paper,  15  cts.; 
cloth,  extra  paper,  75  cts. 

INDEPENDENT,  N.  Y.  "  Mr.  Julian  Hawthorne  can  choose  no 
better  compliment  upon  his  new  romance,  '  ARCHIBALD  MALMAI- 
SON,' than  the  assurance  that  he  has  at  last  put  forth  a  story  which 
reads  as  if  the  manuscript,  written  in  his  father's  indecipherable 
handwriting  and  signed  'Nathaniel  Hawthorne,'  had  lain  shut  into 
a  desk  for  twenty-five  years,  to  be  only  just  now  pulled  out  and 
printed.  It  is  a  masterful  romance  ;  short,  compressed,  terribly 
dramatic  in  its  important  situations,  based  upon  a  psychologic 
idea  as  weird  and  susceptible  of  startling  treatment  as  possible. 
It  is  a  book  to  be  read  through  in  two  hours,  but  to  dwell  in  the 
memory  forever.  The  employment  of  the  central  theme  and  the 
literary  conduct  of  the  plot  is  nearly  beyond  criticism." 

X.  H.  STODDARD,  IN  NEW  YORK  MAIL  AND  EXPRESS. 
"  The  climax  is  so  terrible,  as  the  London  Times  has  pointed  out, 
and  so  dramatic  in  its  intensity,  that  it  is  impossible  to  class  it 
with  any  situation  of  modern  fiction.  .  .  Mr.  Hawthorne  is 
clearly  and  easily  the  first  of  living  romancers." 

THE  LONDON  TIMES.  "  After  perusal  of  this  weird,  fantastic 
tale  (Archibald  Malmaison),  it  must  be  admitted  that  upon  the 
shoulders  of  Julian  Hawthorne  has  descended  in  no  small  degree 
the  mantle  of  his  mere  illustrious  father.  The  climax  is  so  terrible, 
and  so  dramatic  in  its  intensity,  that  it  is  impossible  to  class  it 
with  any  situation  of  modern  fiction.  There  is  much  psychologi- 
cal ingenuity  shown  in  some  of  the  more  subtle  touches  that  lend 
en  air  of  reality  to  this  wild  romance." 

THE  LONDON  GLOBE.  "  •  Archibald  Malmaison  '  is  one  of  the 
most  daring  attempts  to  set  the  wildest  fancy  masquerading  in  the 
cloak  of  science,  which  has  ever,  perhaps  been  made.  Mr.  Haw- 
thorne has  managed  to  combine  the  almost  perfect  construction  of 
a  typical  French  novelist,  with  a  more  than  typically  German 
power  of  conception." 

THE  ACADEMY.  •'  Mr.  Hawthorne  has  a  more  powerful  imagin- 
ation than  any  contemporary  writer  of  fiction.  He  has  the  very 
uncommon  gift  of  taking  hold  of  the  reader's  attention  at  once, 
and  the  still  more  uncommon  gift  of  maintaining  his  grasp  when  it 
is  fixed." 

FUNK  &  WAGNALLS,  Publishers,  10  &  xa  Dey  St.,  N.  Y. 


THE  FORTUNES  OF  RACHEL. 

A  New  Novel.  By  EDWARD  EVERETT  HALE.  12010,  paper,  250.; 
clo,h,$i. 

CHRISTIAN  UNION,  N.  Y.  "  Probably  no  American  has  a  more 
devoted  constituencv  of  readers  than  Mr.  Edward  Everett  Hale, 
and  to  all  these  his  latest  siory,  'The  Fortunes  of  Rachel,'  will 
bring  genuine  pleasure.  Mr.  Hale  -is  emphatically  a  natural 
writer;  he  loves  to  interpret  common  things  and  to  deal  with  aver- 
agepers>ns.  He  does  this  with  such  insight,  with  such  noble 
conception  of  life  and  of  his  work,  that  he  discovers  that  profound 
interest  which  belongs  to  the  humblest  as  truly  as  to  the  most 
brilliant  forms  of  life.  .  .  .  This  story  is  a  thoroughly  Ameri- 
can novel,  fail  of  incident,  rich  in  strong  traits  of  character,  and 
fu'l  of  stimulatingthought;  it  is  wholesome  and  elevating." 

3OSTOW  JOURNAL.  "  The  virtue  of  the  book  is  the  healthful, 
encouraging,  kindly  spirit  which  prevades  it,  and  which  will  help 
one  to  battle'  with  adverse  circumstances,  as  indeed,  all  Mr.  Hale's 
stones  have  helped." 

NEW  YORK  JOURNAL  OF  COMMERCE.  "A  pnre'y 
American  story,  original  all  through,  and  Rachel  is  one  of  the 
pleasantest  and  most  satisfactory  of  heroines.  She  is  a  girl  of  the 
soil,  unspoiled  by  foreign  travels  and  conventionalites.  After 
surleiting  on  romances  whose  scenes  are  laid  abroad,  it  is  delight- 
ful to  come  across  a  healthy  home  product  like  this." 

RUTHERFORD. 

A  New  Novel.    By  EDGAR  FAWCETT.    Author  rf'An  Ambitious 

Woman"  "A  Gentleman  of  Leisure,"  A  Hopeless  Case," 

"  Tinkling  Cymbals"  etc.     i2mo,  paper,  25  cts; 

cioth,  extra  paper,  $1.00. 

BOSTON  GLOBE.  "  Truly  Mr.  Fawcett  has  here  wrought  with 
skill  in  producing  some  original  and  beautiful  characters.  The 
motive  and  plan 'are  those  of  a  better  book  than  he  has  ever  writ- 
ten. .  .  Rutherford  is  powerful  and  will  contribute  much  to 
the  reputation  of  its  clever  author." 

SAT.  EVENING  GAZETTE,  Boston.  "  This  story  evinces  grace 
as  well  as  facility  of  style,  is  effectively  told  throughout,  and  in 
its  plot,and  characters  is  decidedly  interesting.  The  sympathies 
of  the  reader  are  keenly  en  isted  for  two  of  the  characters  who  have 
been  reduced  from  wealth  to  poverty,  and  the  re  at. on  of  their  ex- 
periences in  the  latter  form  of  life  affords  opportunitv  for  a  very 
effective  exhibition  of  this  p'-iase  of  New  York  experience.  The 
book  is  one  of  the  most  elaborate  of  Mr.  Fawcett's  novels." 

NEW  YORK  TRIBUNE.  "  Mr.  Fawcett's  story,  « Rutherford,' 
is  more  serious  in  plan  than  most  of  his  society  novel*;  it  has  a 
motive  which  is  not  only  tragical,  but  impressive.  .  .  .  It  is 
well  constructed,  and  contains  some  excellent  sketches  of  fashion- 
able life  and  touches  of  satire." 

FUNK  &  WAGNALLS,  Publishers,  10  &  12  Dey  St.,  N.  Y. 


THE  HO  YT-  WARD  CYCLOPAEDIA  OF  PRAC- 
TICAL QUOTATIONS. 

Prose  and  Poetry.    Nearly  20,000  Quotations  and  50,000  lines  of 
Concordance. 

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FUNK  &  WAGNALLS,  Publishers,  10  &  xa  Dey  St.,  N.  Y. 


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